The Florida Panthers took a 2-1 series lead with a 6-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final on Monday night.
However, the blowout result came with some additional entertainment halfway through the third period when a major brawl broke out between the two teams involving all 10 players on the ice.
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The melee appeared to begin with 9:33 remaining in the third period when Oilers center Trent Frederic cross-checked the Panthers’ Sam Bennett, breaking his stick in the process. Florida’s A.J. Greer and Edmonton’s Mattias Ekholm then mixed it up, followed by the Panthers’ Nate Schmidt and Oilers’ Connor Brown sparring. Defensemen Dmitry Kulikov and left winger Viktor Arvidsson also joined in fisticuffs.
However, the true standouts of this battle were Panthers winger Jonah Gadjovich and Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse. Neither of these combatants went to the ice as they kept hold of the other’s neck and sweater, locked in a violent dance, looking for an opening to land a punch.
Plenty of overhands and uppercuts were landed by each player as the Panthers fans cheered. Yet rather than try to separate Gadjovich and Nurse, officials let the fighters tire each other out until they couldn’t manage any more punches.
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After tensions settled and play resumed with a 5-on-4 Florida power play, Gadjovich, Nurse, Greer, Bennett, Ekholm and Frederic were each given 10-minute misconduct penalties, removing them from the remainder of the game. Edmonton’s Evander Kane was also issued a 10-minute misconduct for slashing Carter Verhaeghe — after he was slashed by the Oilers’ Evan Bouchard.
Yet the fighting wasn’t finished. Edmonton’s John Klingberg and Florida’s Matthew Tkachuk went at it from there, with Jake Walman joining in to help his Oilers teammate. That resulted in Walman drawing roughing and unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, which ended his night and gave Florida a 5-on-3 power play. But not before the Oilers’ Kasperi Kapanen and Panthers’ Eetu Luostarinen also mixed it up.
The Panthers scored on the 5-on-3 to boost their lead to 6-1.
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If the Oilers were hoping to take out some frustrations on Florida and try to intimidate them for the remainder of the series, that doesn’t appear to have worked at all. Edmonton also tried to start a fight at the end of the first period with the Panthers already ahead 2-0.
Again, that tactic accomplished nothing for the Oilers. Trying to out-tough the Panthers failed and made Edmonton looked outmatched.
Brad Marchand, Sam Reinhart, Aaron Ekblad, Evan Rodrigues, Verhaeghe and Bennett scored for Florida. On the Oilers’ side, Corey Perry scored the lone goal.
Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final is scheduled for Thursday at 8 p.m. ET. Will there be more fisticuffs or did both teams get all of that fighting out of their systems? Perhaps the Oilers will also remember that they’re supposed to be playing for a championship.
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