Stanley Cup Final's overtime frenzy doesn't faze Panthers

David Furones, South Florida Sun-Sentinel on Jun 14, 2025

Published in Hockey

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

EDMONTON, Alberta — As the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers enter Game 5 of another epic Stanley Cup Final, three of the first four games went to overtime, one double overtime.

The total extra time nearly amounts to another full game of action played in the heightened intensity that is sudden-death overtime in the NHL playoffs.

The free hockey can be taxing on players, though, especially for a roster core which has reached the last game of what will now be a third consecutive season. The three consecutive Stanley Cup Final runs the Panthers have made will amount to 68 postseason games when Game 6 is played Tuesday night in Sunrise, Fla.

The Panthers, entering Saturday’s Game 5, have had defensemen Seth Jones and Gustav Forsling log 544 and 487 minutes, respectively, in time on ice these playoffs. Fellow blue-liner Aaron Ekblad has played 410 minutes despite missing four games. Centers Alekanser Barkov and Sam Reinhart have been on the ice for 431 and 410 minutes, respectively — Reinhart in two fewer games.

But the Panthers brush off any notion that they’re tired entering Game 5 at Rogers Place in what became a best-of-three series the moment Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl won Game 4 with an overtime goal.

“I don’t think there are tired bodies,” Florida defenseman Niko Mikkola said after Saturday’s morning skate. “It’s the finals. There are three games left in the season, so I don’t think anybody’s tired right now.”

And the Panthers are simply built for times like these, where the series is already guaranteed to go six games after these same two teams played to seven in last year’s Final.

“It’s just how tight it is,” said forward Carter Verhaeghe, who noted it’s the first time he’s been part of a series with three overtime games in the first four. “We like to grind. We have a grindy game, and we like to play physical, so we like it when it goes longer.”

The fact these games need more than 60 minutes to settle a winner is a testament to the quality of competition between the league’s two top teams.

“This is one of the tightest series I think anyone will ever see, most exciting. Just the talent level and how close these two teams are,” Florida forward Brad Marchand said. “It’s been real exciting, a little nerve-wracking at times, but we’re all big fans of the game still, and to have these two teams playing each other and playing the way they are and the games playing out the way that they have, it makes you realize, wow, you love the game so much — but also why this trophy’s the hardest there is to win.”

The Panthers were on the wrong end of two of the three games that went the extra period.

On Thursday night in Sunrise, Draisaitl pushed the puck with one hand on his stick off Mikkola and past Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky.

“It happens,” Mikkola said. “You can’t really do anything different. It’s an unlucky bounce.”

Draisaitl also capped the Game 1 Oilers victory with the game-winning goal, becoming the first NHL player with two in the Final and four in one postseason.

“He can make a play,” Mikkola said. “He’s fast. He’s a big guy. You just need to stay close to him and have a good stick.”

Marchand was the one to win Game 2 for the Panthers the previous time they played in Edmonton before Saturday. As the Panthers are steadfast on not getting too high or too low emotionally, it’s not something they necessarily reached back to going back to Rogers Place.

“I don’t think we really think about it, to be honest,” Marchand said. “Every game is so different at this level. You look at moments where you feel maybe calm and poised, but every situation is so different in these games that you just got to be in the moment and can’t think, because you’ve had success in any game, that it’s going to happen or it’s going to be the same way.

“It’s about making the right play at the right time, and I think that just comes from, I think, being confident in ourselves in our game and trusting our structure more than it is looking back at any particular game.”