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5 months ago
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The Edmonton Oilers are not done yet! Canada's last hope to end the country's more-than-three-decade Stanley Cup drought did not extend the wait at least one more year on Monday against the Florida Panthers.
The Oilers scored four of the game's first five goals and held of a furious Panthers rally to send the series back to Alberta with a 5-3 Game 5 victory, giving Florida a third straight contest where a victory ends the NHL season in three days.
Game 6 will be Friday night in Edmonton. The teams have spilt the two previous games at Rogers Place thus far in the series.
The Oilers quieted the Florida crowd early with a first-period shorthanded goal from Connor Brown.
It was the first time in Stanley Cup Finals history where a team has opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal in back-to-back games.
Edmonton goaltender Stuart Skinner was fantastic in the late stages of the Game 5 victory
It was another physical game between the Oilers and the Panthers in the Stanley Cup Finals
To end the first period, the Panthers did not have a shot on goal in the final 14 minutes of the period, and only one after Brown's marker.
The Oilers came out flying in the second period as well, with two quick goals from Evan Bouchard and Connor McDavid to take a three-goal lead.
Florida finally showed life six minutes into the second period on a Matthew Tkachuk goal.
McDavid showed his wizardry less than two minutes later by deking out a Panthers' defender and setting up Corey Perry with a tap-in to give the Oilers a 4-1 lead.
The rest of the game was tilted toward the Edmonton net, but the Oilers bent and did not break to give up the lead.
An Evan Rodrigues tap-in brought the score to 4-2, and an Oliver Ekman-Larsson one-timer brought the Panthers within one with 16 minutes left in the game.
From then on in, the Oilers successfully stood on their heads as the Panthers seemingly had all the momentum.
Edmonton finally could breathe after McDavid's second goal of the game into an empty net with 19 seconds left.
Connor McDavid once again showed why he is one of the best hockey players on the planet
The Oilers tried to set the tone physically from the jump while playing on the road again
The Edmonton Oilers extended the Stanley Cup Finals for at least one more game on Friday
Florida Panthers fans look on dejected as their team could not bring home the Stanley Cup
Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner had 30 saves in the game to be one of the main cogs sending the championship series back to Alberta.
'You can never count the Oil out. Getting these two wins were crucial. We have another one to get in Edmonton,' Skinner said.
Skinner declined to say whether Game 6 will be the biggest game of his lifetime taking place in Edmonton.
'I am very excited to go back home and see the family and play another game,' Skinner added.
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