The Panthers scored in the opening minute and did not let up in the scrappy, penalty-filled game, cruising to a 6-1 victory in Sunrise, Florida.
The result gives the Panthers a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series heading to game 4 in Sunrise on Friday.
Carter Verhaeghe, Sam Reinhart and Evan Rodrigues each grabbed a goal and an assist, Brad Marchand, Aaron Ekblad and Sam Bennett also scored, and Eetu Luostarinen collected two assists for the Panthers, who are trying to become the third team to repeat as Stanley Cup champions in the past 10 years.
Sergei Bobrovsky made 32 saves for Florida, who went 3-for-11 on the power play and 5-for-6 on the penalty kill.
"We talk about being composed," Florida forward Matthew Tkachuk said.
"If you’ve got to take a punch in the face, a slash in the face, a cross-check, a slash in the leg, whatever the case is, you’ve got to do it. There’s a bigger picture with the win here for us. We just wanted to protect ourselves, protect our team-mates when needed, but at the end of the day, you’ve got to be smart in a game like this, and I thought our team did that."
Corey Perry scored for the Oilers, who are hoping to become the first franchise from Canada to win the Cup since the Montreal Canadiens in 1993.
Stuart Skinner surrendered five goals on 23 shots before he was replaced early in the third period by Calvin Pickard, who finished with seven saves.
"We didn’t play very well. We have nobody to blame but ourselves," Edmonton left winger Evander Kane said.
"We can definitely be a lot better." — Field Level Media
