Marchand, Bennett stay hot for Panthers in Game 3 of Stanley Cup Final

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Who played well in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final? Sometimes it’s easy to tell, sometimes it isn’t. NHL.com graded the players in a 6-1 win by the Florida Panthers against the Edmonton Oilers at Amerant Bank Arena on Monday. Here are the players that stood out the most.

Honor roll

Brad Marchand (Florida Panthers): Marchand got the Panthers crowd going when he scored 56 seconds into the game. He became the first player in NHL history to score an overtime goal (he had the winner in double overtime in Game 2) and then score in the opening minute of the following game in a Cup Final. He has four goals through the opening three games of this series.

Sergei Bobrovsky (Florida Panthers): The goalie was sharp from the start in making 32 saves on 33 shots in Game 3. One of his most stellar was when he slid over to keep Oilers forward Adam Henrique from scoring on a tip-in at 5:02 of the first period.

Corey Perry (Edmonton Oilers): The forward scored a power-play goal for Edmonton at 1:40 of the second period to cut Florida’s lead to 2-1. Perry is on a five-game point streak during which he has four goals and two assists. He has two goals in the past two games against the Panthers, becoming the third player in NHL history age 40 or older to score multiple goals in the Cup Final (Mark Recchi had three with the Boston Bruins in 2011, and Igor Larionov scored the same with the Detroit Red Wings in 2002).

Sam Bennett (Florida Panthers): The forward had big back-to-back hits, on Oilers forward Vasily Podkolzin at 7:13 of the second period and defenseman John Klingberg at 7:14, then scored on a breakaway at 7:26 for his League-leading 14th goal of the postseason. He’s on a four-game goal streak, a Panthers playoff record.

Evan Bouchard (Edmonton Oilers): The defenseman led all players with nine shots on goal (the Oilers had 33 for the game) and had the primary assist on Perry’s power-play goal. Bouchard has 80 career playoff points (20 goals, 60 assists) in 72 games, which is tied for the fifth-fewest needed in NHL history to reach that mark.

Stock watch

Pregame atmosphere: ⬆️ Miami resident DJ Khaled pumped up the crowd ahead of team introductions (he also performed during first intermission). Miami Heat captain Bam Adebayo was here to bang the drum as fans yelled “Let’s Go Panthers.” South Florida was ready for some hockey on Monday.

Nate Schmidt: ⬆️ It’s kind of misleading to say the Panthers defenseman’s stock is rising because he’s been playing at a high level for a while. He added another assist in Game 3 and has five in the series. He’s the eighth defenseman in the expansion era (since 1967-68) to open a Cup Final with a three-game assist streak.

Stuart Skinner: ⬇️ He could’ve used more help, but it was a tough night for the Oilers goaltender, who was pulled after Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad gave Florida a 5-1 lead with a power-play goal at 3:27 of the third period. Skinner allowed five goals on 23 shots before Calvin Pickard relieved him.

Discipline: ⬇️ The Panthers and Oilers combined to take eight penalties in the first period, including Florida forward Anton Lundell’s roughing at the end of the first that gave Edmonton a power play to start the second. That ended up just being the start of it because as the angst built up, so did the number of penalties. By the third period fists were flying, emotions were running high and plenty of misconducts were being doled out.

Evander Kane: ⬇️ Again, he wasn’t the only one, but the forward took Edmonton’s first two penalties of the game and was assessed another for slashing in the third, for which he was also given a game misconduct. The Oilers were getting great scoring chances on their first power play before Kane’s cross-check on Florida defenseman Gustav Forsling nullified it with nine seconds remaining. He took a high-sticking penalty later in the period, which the Oilers killed off.

What we learned

Oilers have to regroup

After two tight games in Edmonton, with the Oilers forcing overtime in each, this one wasn’t close. Even putting Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl together again midway through the second period couldn’t help the Oilers generate enough against the Panthers. It’s one game, though, so the Oilers will flush it and get ready for Game 4 here on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS, CBC).

Panthers look great at home

This hasn’t always been the case for the Panthers, who were 4-3 this postseason at Amerant Bank Arena entering Game 3. But this was a pretty dominant performance to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-7 series.