2024 Stanley Cup Final: Edmonton Oilers looking to level things up against Florida Panthers in Game 2

By Sam Joseph, CNN

(CNN) — After being on the wrong side of a shutout in the series opener, the Edmonton Oilers are hoping to bounce back against the Florida Panthers in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final.

The Panthers took the Game 1 with a commanding 3-0 victory at home. The Oilers had their chances to get back into the game and outshot Florida 32-18, but Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky made 32 saves to leave Edmonton scoreless in Game 1.

While losing the opening game of the series on the road is hardly a catastrophe, the Oilers are aiming to ensure that the Panthers don’t run away with the series early on.

How to watch Game 2

Game 2 begins at 8 p.m. ET on Monday and will be broadcast live on ABC, ESPN+, SN, TVAS and CBC.

Edmonton looking to convert chances

The promising signs from the offense in Game 1 offer some motivation for the Edmonton squad going into tonight’s matchup.

“I think it’s encouraging in some ways the way that we played,” said Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. “Obviously, you want to stack up as many wins as you can as early as you can in a series, but it’s a best-of-seven and it’s a race to four [wins]. I thought we did a lot of good things last night, we couldn’t find a way to beat them, but at the same time, we can wake up have a good day here and stay confident within our group.”

The Oilers looking to become the first Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup since 1993.

Meanwhile, the Panthers’ Game 1 win moved them one step closer to avenging last year’s Cup Final heartbreak, when they were defeated in five games by the Vegas Golden Knights.

Florida is looking for its first championship in franchise history. Panthers players and staff know that they will have to improve if they are to fend off the Oilers threat and make history.

“I think definitely we can be better,” Panthers forward Carter Verhaeghe said after Game 1. “There’s always things we can improve on. I think after a week [off before Game 1], we’ll take a win any way we can get it. But they outshot us, they had a lot more chances than us. We shut it down, played good defensively, but there’s lots of things we can improve on.”

Florida head coach Paul Maurice added: “They’ve had an opportunity to see us play, play well, things that we’re good at, so we got lots of room to improve, which is the positive for us tonight.”

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