EDMONTON — Driving the Florida Panthers attack in the playoffs is a player in his NHL prime and another acting like he is.
Sam Bennett, 28, and Brad Marchand, 37, continued to be a lot for the Oilers to handle in the Stanley Cup final in Florida's 5-2 win over Edmonton on Saturday to take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Marchand scored twice Saturday — Florida's first and third goals — to reach half a dozen goals in the Cup final.
Florida's second goal of the game was Bennett's fifth of the Cup final and his NHL-leading 15th of the post-season.
The Panthers can close out the series at home Tuesday and become the first back-to-back Stanley Cup champions since the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2020 and 2021.
A new ingredient for the Panthers this post-season, however, is the five-foot-nine, 180-pound Marchand, who Florida acquired at the trade deadline after his almost 16 years with the Boston Bruins.
Marchand's six goals was the most by any player in the championship series since Esa Tikkanen in 1988.
Marchand, from Halifax, seeks the second Stanley Cup of his career after lifting the trophy with the Boston Bruins in 2011 at the age of 23. He reached another two Cup finals with Boston before he was dealt to Florida this winter.
When asked what the 2011 edition of Brad Marchand would say to his 2025 version, he replied "man, that guy's good looking."
"Sometimes you get bounces, sometimes you don't but definitely you'd be grateful to be in this opportunity and have another opportunity to be in the finals and be part of a really good team for sure," Marchand continued.
Bennett, from Holland Landing, Ont., pushed his road goal streak to six straight games when he wired a rebound past Edmonton's Calvin Pickard to give the Oilers a 2-0 lead in the first period.
A front-runner for this year's Conn Smythe Trophy that goes to the NHL's playoff MVP, Bennett ranks second in post-season in hits (103) to Edmonton's Zach Hyman (111).
"We've talked about it so much," said Bennett's teammate Sam Reinhart. "It's just his game translates so well to this time of year. He creates so much room for himself."
Marchand and Bennett each with five, or more, goals apiece in the Cup final are the first teammates to do so since Montreal's Frank Mahovlich and Yvan Cournoyer in 1973.
"They're just certainly capable of processing the context of the game," Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said. "They don't get too high, they don't go too low. Their energy level is high, and they're very focused on the game.
"There's a mental toughness there, a mental capacity to stay within the game and not try to break it open. Just wait. Patience."
The ageless Marchand scored both his goals off draws that Edmonton won, but he got to the puck first and beat Oilers to the net to score twice.
"What he can do under duress in a small area is world class," Maurice said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 14, 2025.
Donna Spencer, The Canadian Press
