The Edmonton Oilers tied the Stanley Cup Final at three games apiece with a 5-1 victory over the Florida Panthers in Game 6 at Rogers Place on Friday, driven by three straight even-strength goals to open the contest.
Warren Foegele began the scoring for Edmonton at 7:27 of the first period, converting a snap shot off assists from Leon Draisaitl and Brett Kulak. Just 46 seconds into the second period, Adam Henrique widened the margin to 2-0 with a wrist shot set up by Mattias Janmark and Mattias Ekholm. Zach Hyman added Edmonton's third goal at 18:20 of the period with a backhand shot assisted by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
Florida got on the board 1:28 into the third period when Aleksander Barkov beat Stuart Skinner with a wrist shot, assisted by Carter Verhaeghe and Dmitry Kulikov. The Panthers could not draw closer before Edmonton capitalized twice on an empty net late in regulation. Ryan McLeod scored on a backhand at 16:45, and Darnell Nurse added another empty-net goal 12 seconds later at 16:57 to seal the win.
Stuart Skinner earned the victory in net for the Oilers by stopping 20 of 21 shots, also picking up an assist on Edmonton's fifth goal. Sergei Bobrovsky took the loss for the Panthers after making 16 saves on 19 shots. Special teams produced no offense for either side, as Florida went 0 for 3 on the power play and Edmonton finished 0 for 2.
With the win, Edmonton evened the best-of-seven series at 3-3 after losing the first three games. The Oilers have now won three consecutive contests in the Stanley Cup Final to extend the series to a decisive Game 7.
