(Sunrise) Connor McDavid once again took charge for the Oilers.
The captain scored two goals and added two assists and Edmonton avoided elimination for a second straight game in the Stanley Cup final on Tuesday with a 5-3 victory over the Panthers from Florida.
McDavid thus collected three goals and eight points in two games when his team absolutely had to win.
Connor Brown, Zach Hyman and Corey Perry also scored for the Oilers, who forced a Game 6 Friday in Alberta after conceding victories in the first three games.
Stuart Skinner made 29 saves in front of the goal for the Alberta club, whose last Stanley Cup conquest dates back to 1990. The Oilers are also looking to become the first Canadian team to lift the silver bowl since the Montreal Canadiens, in 1993.
Defenseman Evan Bouchard had three assists for the victorious team.
The Panthers attempted a comeback in the second and third periods but failed to tie the game. Matthew Tkachuk, Evan Rodrigues and Oliver Ekman-Larsson threaded the needle.
Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 19 pucks for the Panthers, who are trying to win the Stanley Cup for the first time in franchise history.
The Oilers gave themselves a two-goal lead by scoring on the penalty kill and on the power play during the first 22 minutes of the game.
Brown opened the scoring with his second goal of the playoffs at 5:30 of the first period on an individual effort while teammate Brett Kulak was in the penalty box.
Brown blocked a pass before recovering the puck in the neutral zone. Coming with speed into the offensive zone, the 30-year-old right winger found the back of the net with a backhand shot that Bobrovsky touched with the tip of his skate.
Hyman then doubled the visitors’ lead when a point shot from Evan Bouchard deflected off his knee at 1:58 of the second period. It was the scorer’s 15th goal since the start of the playoffs.
Warren Foegele’s efforts to recover the puck in the corner of the Panthers’ zone paid off as McDavid flashed the red light at 5:00 of the period. He surprised Bobrovsky with a shot from a tight angle.
It was McDavid’s 40th point since the start of the playoffs. Only Wayne Gretzky (three times) and Mario Lemieux have also reached this plateau in a single playoff run.
Tkachuk then made sure to keep the fans at Amerant Bank Arena engaged by cutting the deficit just 1:53 later. Rodrigues forced the Oilers into a turnover, then Tkachuk beat Skinner with a shot into the top right corner of the net.
Perry gave the Oilers a three-goal lead again at 11:54 when McDavid broke through to the goalie on the power play before feeding the puck back to him at the mouth of the net. It was his first of the playoffs. Rodrigues, however, responded just 14 seconds later.
Ekman-Larsson cut the lead to one goal at 4:04 of the third period with a powerful shot from the faceoff circle following a pass from Tkachuk.
McDavid put the finishing touches, however, with an empty-net goal with 18 seconds remaining.
