Those final 10 minutes of Game 3? ‘An unraveling' for Edmonton in Florida's blowout win

Miami Herald

20 hours ago

The Florida Panthers were well on their way to a blowout win over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final on Monday when things began to unravel.
The Panthers were up four goals with just under 10 minutes left to play in their eventual 6-1 victory when Edmonton stopped focusing on the game and started going for the hits.
The damage from the final 9:31 of game action: 110 penalty minutes, 80 of which came from eight misconducts (five for Edmonton, three for Florida).
'Definitely the third period's an unraveling,' Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. 'I think the game was out of hand. I don't think we would've acted or played like that had the game been a one-goal or a two-goal game. I think our guys were just trying to, I don't know, boys being boys — just trying to make investments for the next game. The first period, obviously the four penalties, which is way too many. We shouldn't have those. But I kind of question some of those penalties.'
It began with Edmonton forward Trent Frederic trying to ambush Florida center Sam Bennett, who has been in the agitator role at several points throughout the Stanley Cup playoffs. A missed punch to the back of Bennett's head was followed by a cross-check.
And then the slew of skirmishes broke out, the headliner being Florida's Jonah Gadjovich dropping the gloves with Edmonton's Darnell Nurse for a lengthy round of full-on punches.
A half-dozen players — Florida's Gadjovich, Bennett and A.J. Greer; Edmonton's Frederic, Nurse and Mattias Ekholm — were ejected afterward.
And then it just kept coming.
Edmonton's Evander Kane was sent off a few minutes later after slashing Verhaeghe while Verhaeghe was down on the ice. A few more Edmonton cheap shots followed in the final minutes of the game, with the Oilers' Kasperi Kapanen the final player kicked out of the game after a cross-check to Eetu Luostarinen with 4:13 left to play.
Through it all, the Panthers stayed composed. They weren't going to stoop to that level, not with the lead they had and with so little time left to play. They have a bigger goal in mind.
'We talked about it in the third,' star Panthers winger Matthew Tkachuk said. 'If you have to take a punch, take a punch. If you have to take a cross-check, take a cross-check. Spear, slash in the face, whatever the case is, you've got to take it. We just played a really smart game.'
Added captain Aleksander Barkov: 'It's a 60-minute game. We just want to keep doing the same things all over again and play our game. Stuff like that sometimes happens. But I think overall, pretty, pretty happy with the 60 minute effort.'
The Oilers, naturally, saw things differently. Edmonton star Connor McDavid said they lost their composure at 'the very end there when we're trying to show a little bit of fight back.'
'When you get into garbage time, those things happen,' McDavid said. 'And I don't mind when those things happen. That's what good teams do — fight your way out of the rink. I don't mind that in garbage time.'
Added defenseman Jake Walman: 'There's not an inch out there. Everybody's doing everything they can. That's a grown man's game out there. It's not for the faint of heart. Guys are putting everything on the line you know?'
Kane, meanwhile, said the game 'obviously got out of hand' before saying the Panthers 'seem to get away with it more than we do.'
'It's tough to find the line,' Kane said. 'They're doing just as much stuff as we are. ... There seems to be a little bit more attention on our group.'
Did the Panthers, with their aggressive, agitating style, get the Oilers to play into their hand?
'I don't think so,' Knoblauch said. 'We've got some guys maybe who love the drop the gloves a little more and get at it a little bit. We're a big, physical team. We do have some skilled guys, and I don't see our skilled guys getting distracted and getting into that. The guys who like it are getting into it.'
As for how this could impact the series moving forward? The Panthers aren't focused on that.
'I just think emotions in all of these games are extremely high,' veteran forward Brad Marchand said. 'And obviously this is the time you're playing and you're enjoying every minute. So it doesn't really matter what happened tonight, we both have to reset, and we're [ready] for the next one now.'