Connor McDavid, Oilers tops Panthers, extend finals again

Connor McDavid scored twice in a four-point performance while leading Edmonton to a 5-3 victory over the Florida Panthers on Tuesday in Sunrise, Fla., as the Oilers staved off elimination for a second time in the Stanley Cup Final.

Connor Brown, Zach Hyman and Corey Perry also scored for the Oilers, who have won two straight but still trail the best-of-seven series 3-2. Goaltender Stuart Skinner made 29 saves and Evan Bouchard logged three assists, joining Larry Robinson (1978) as the only defensemen with seven multi-assist games in a single postseason.

McDavid, who has posted consecutive four-point outings, became only the third player in NHL history to net 40 or more points in a single playoff year, joining Wayne Gretzky (1985, 1988, 1993) and Mario Lemieux (1991).

Matthew Tkachuk and Evan Rodrigues both collected one goal and one assist for Florida. Oliver Ekman-Larsson also tallied, and goalie Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 19 shots.

The series returns to Edmonton for Game 6 on Friday.

Brown netted a short-handed goal to open the scoring at the 5:30 of the first period. He intercepted a cross-ice pass at his own blue line and finished a breakaway deke for his second of the playoffs.

Hyman doubled the lead at 1:58 of the second period, producing a power-play marker when he deflected Bouchard's point shot for his 15th of the playoffs. Then McDavid made it a 3-0 game at 5:00 of the frame by threading the needle with a sharp-angled shot off the rush.

Tkachuk gave the Panthers life less than two minutes later by converting an open chance from the slot for his sixth tally.

Perry restored Edmonton's three-goal edge with another power-play goal at 11:54, redirecting McDavid's crossing pass for his first of the playoffs.

The Panthers found another gear and pushed for a comeback. Rodrigues responded 14 seconds later by burying a rebound for his seventh of the playoff run, his fourth of the series.

Ekman-Larsson made it a one-goal game at 4:04 of the third period by blasting a one-timer from the slot for his second goal of the playoffs. The frantic push for the equalizer fell short before McDavid iced it with an empty-net goal, his eighth goal of the playoffs, at 19:41.

--Field Level Media