The Florida Panthers took control of the Stanley Cup Final after dominating the Edmonton Oilers in a 6-1 win in Game 3. Following Monday’s contest, Oilers forward Evander Kane admitted his belief that the Panthers don’t get whistled for quite as many penalty calls.
“They seem to get away with it more than we do,” Kane said. “It’s tough to find the line. They’re doing just as much stuff as we are. There seems to be a little bit more attention on our group.”
In Game 3, the Oilers were whistled for 21 penalties that lasted a total of 85 minutes, while the Panthers accumulated just 14 penalties for 55 minutes. The Panthers were able to capitalize of their time on the power-play as three of their six goals came via the man advantage.
Kane ended up penalized on two occasions during the first period of Game 3. The Oilers winger received a cross-checking penalty, while also being penalized for high-sticking.
There was just one penalty throughout the second period, but the final period got out of mind. During a line brawl midway through the third period, several players received misconduct penalties, including Sam Bennett, Mattias Ekholm and Darnell Nurse. Kane also received a misconduct penalty after slashing Carter Verhaeghe later in the period.
Tensions certainly rose over the final 20 minutes, but Kane didn’t express belief that it was because the Panthers got under the Oilers’ skin.
“No, I don’t think so. I think the game obviously got out of hand at the end there,” Kane added. That stuff is going to happen. You look at some of the calls and whatnot, [and] obviously some of them are frustrating.”
The Panthers committed more penalties than the Oilers in each of the first two games of the Stanley Cup Final.
With a victory in Game 3, the Panthers have now won back-to-back games to take a 2-1 lead in the series. Winger Brad Marchand, who scored a pair of goals in a 5-4 overtime victory in Game 2, opened the scoring in Game 3 to help the Panthers get off to a hot start.
The Panthers look to take a commanding 3-1 series lead Thursday in Game 4.
