Florida takes a stranglehold on the Stanley Cup Final with a 4-3 victory on Thursday
The Florida Panthers took a commanding 3-0 lead in the Stanley Cup Final with a 4-3 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday, and once again former members of the Buffalo Sabres were significant contributors.
In the first two games, it was former Sabre Evan Rodrigues who was the scoring star, with three goals that powered the Panthers to 3-0 and 4-1 victories at Amerant Bank Arena. As the series moved to Rogers Arena for Game 3, forward Sam Reinhart stepped up in an effort that brings Florida to within one game of their first Stanley Cup championship.
Reinhart scored his ninth goal of the playoffs late in the first period on a deflection of a Gustav Forsling pass and added an assist along with Rodrigues on Aleksander Barkov’s game-winner late in the middle frame. The Sabres 2014 first-rounder has 15 points (9 goals, 6 assists) in 20 playoff games.
Rodrigues ended the game +2 with two shots on goal in 15:17, Brandon Montour played 21:09 in the game, well behind ice time leader Gustav Forsling (28:40) and Aaron Ekblad (24:30) and was -1 on the night, Dmitry Kulikov played 11:34 on the bottom pairing with Oliver Ekman-Larsson, and fourth-liner Kyle Okposo had three shots on goal in just 6:26.
Edmonton did not dress Evander Kane for Game 3 after he struggled to play through injuries in Game 2, with veteran Corey Perry taking his place. Game 4 will go on Saturday, with the Panthers having a chance of a sweep of the Oilers.
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