Getting better with age, Marchand nets twice in Game 5 victory

EDMONTON, Alberta — It's 2011 all over again for Brad Marchand, who, at 37, is showing signs he's actually getting better with age, as he helped inch the Florida Panthers to within a victory of their second straight Stanley Cup title.

Marchand scored twice, including being credited with his second winning goal of the Cup Finals, in a 5-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night.

In bouncing back from squandering a 3-0 lead in Game 4 on Thursday, the Panthers return to Florida with a 3-2 series lead for Tuesday's Game 6.

"Yeah, we've been pretty good at bouncing back all playoffs," Marchand said.

Marchand's 13 career goals in the final are the most among active players. Of his 10 playoff goals, six have come in the Cup final series, making Marchand the 18th player to do so in the final, and first since Edmonton's Esa Tikkanen scored that many in 1988.

And Marchand, who scored five times in Boston's 2011 Cup-winning final series over Vancouver, joined Mario Lemieux in becoming just the second player over the past 50 years to score five or more times in multiple Cup finals.

He also became the oldest player to do it.

Acquired by Florida at the NHL trade deadline in March, the former Boston captain opened the scoring Saturday night midway through the first period.

And, then, he essentially sealed the victory by putting Florida up 3-0 at the 5:12 mark of the third.

Both goals were scored in similar fashion, with Marchand jumping on a loose puck, putting his head down and driving to the net.

The Panthers improved to 10-3 on the road during this run, matching the NHL record for victories away from home in a single playoffs.

Florida can hoist the Cup again as soon as Tuesday night if it wins Game 6 on home ice.

"It was a very solid game, definitely," Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky said.

"But the series continues, and we are excited about the next game. It's going to be a big game."

Multigoal lead

Florida this time built a multigoal lead and built on it, unlike a couple of previous games in the final. Bobrovsky stopped 19 of the 21 shots he faced, making some important saves when needed, and was aided by a lockdown defense that took ice away from the Oilers.

Marchand, Sam Bennett and Sam Reinhart provided the offense.

"I'm just enjoying every moment," said Marchand, who is in his fourth final, and third since winning the Cup with Boston in 2011.

"It's such a special group of guys, and I'm having so much fun here right now.

"I honestly feel like a young guy in the league again. I'm just excited to be part of the group."

Connor McDavid scored his first goal of the series after the Oilers fell behind 3-0.

Reinhart's came 46 seconds later to restore the Panthers' three-goal lead, and by the time Corey Perry scored with 3:13 left, it was too late.

Eetu Luostarinen sealed it with an empty-netter with 1:19 left, silencing the once fired-up crowd for a final time.

"We've just got to play our game earlier," Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse said.

"We can all agree in our room that we can be better."

Edmonton's power play went 0 for 3, the result of the Panthers' aggressive penalty kill knocking McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and the rest of the top unit out of their usual rhythm.

Calvin Pickard lost for the first time in eight starts this spring, allowing four goals on 18 shots.

He got the nod over Stuart Skinner after entering in relief and winning Game 4 to improve to 7-0, a record that is now 7-1.

Skinner could be back in for Game 6, with the Panthers aiming to close things out following another cross-continental trip back to the other corner of North America.

They are in this spot after bouncing back from blowing a three-goal lead and falling in overtime in Game 4, taking advantage of their depth to send the Oilers to the brink again.

""We've been pretty good at bouncing back all playoffs," Marchand said. "We learned a pretty good lesson there last game, and I thought we did a much better job in this one."

Agencies Via Xinhua