Stanley Cup Final Game Three: Around the Goal Horn

So far, the 2025 Stanley Cup Final, the rematch between the Edmonton Oilers and the Florida Panthers, has been quite legendary. Only two games played, but nine periods were featured. Game One needed overtime and Game Two needed double overtime, and after all the dust settled, it's a 1-1 Final--the first 1-1 Final in five years. The scene now shifts to Sunrise, Florida for the next two games, the very site where the Panthers won the Stanley Cup last June. With the series being 1-1, it is guaranteed that the Final will head back to Edmonton, but the series score will be determined in these next two games.

Sergei Bobrovsky vs Stuart Skinner in this, and just 58 seconds in, Brad Marchand puts it in. My goodness. That's Marchand's fourth goal in the Final alone! Much like Game Two, this game saw a lot of penalties in the first period. A lot of power plays dished out, and one of them cashed in. It was a late Florida PP that resulted in Carter Verhaeghe making it 2-0. Now we saw a lot in that first period. We saw two Florida goals, and a lot of penalties, but there was one thing missing. Not a sight, but a sound. The Panthers' goal horn was MIA for both goals. During intermission, I did read that the horn was not working, so that gave us a bit of a nostalgic feel, as I am barely old enough to remember hockey before goal horns were a regular thing.

The period ended with Anton Lundell called for roughing at 20:00, so the second period started with a full power play for Edmonton. Corey Perry put it in at 100 seconds into the second period, so Edmonton got on the board quickly. However, just 80 seconds later, Sam Reinhart made it 3-1 at 3:00, and we heard the horn this time; they clearly fixed it during intermission. Nearly four and a half minutes later, Sam Bennett made it 4-1 and that ended up being the score after 40 minutes.

Based on the score alone, I went, "Well, we won't get OT tonight." Oilers would need three goals to force that extra period, but they were definitely not in the groove, especially after Connor McDavid was lit up by Aaron Ekblad. Speaking of Ekblad, he made it 5-1 on the power play, and that was it for Skinner. In came Calvin Pickard, as this game was clearly out of reach (see, DeBoer, that's when you pull a goalie). Just for kicks, Evan Rodrigues (who had four goals in last year's Final) scored Florida's third PPG of the game at 16:10, and that was after a huge brawl broke out!

The Florida Panthers won Game Three, 6-1, to take the 2-1 lead in the Cup Final. This was the Oilers' worst performance in this run by far, they were overdue for a shellacking like this. However, we all know what happens after McDavid and Draisaitl get punched in the mouth. They get angry. And when they get angry, bad things happen to anyone in their way. Remember: this team started 0-2 in the entire playoffs. This is only their third loss since then. All the while, Brad Marchand is turning back the clock here. He could be the frontrunner for the Conn Smythe should Florida win this thing again.

So the Panthers got the pivotal Game Three win after a 1-1 tie in the Final. As I mentioned in the Game Two recap, the winner of Game Three in a 1-1 Final goes on to win the series 23 times out of the past 30 occurrences. However, all seven losses were from teams who won Game Three at home. We'll see what happens in the rest of this series, but as it stands right now, the Florida Panthers are two wins away from repeating.

Game Four is Thursday in Sunrise.

If you like this story, click the heart and the subscribe button, and feel free to comment below! Tips and pledges would be greatly appreciated, as they help support my writing, but only if you want to do so!