Florida Panthers cruise, take 2-0 lead in Stanley Cup Final - ESPN

SUNRISE, Fla. — Evan Rodrigues had two goals in the third period, Niko Mikkola and Aaron Ekblad also scored and the Florida Panthers beat the Edmonton Oilers 4-1 on Monday night to take a 2-0 lead in the Stanley Cup Final.

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 18 shots for Florida, which was 1-8 all-time in Cup final games before this series started — and now is two wins away from capturing its first championship.

But the win came with a price for Florida as the Panthers lost captain Aleksander Barkov when Edmonton forward Leon Draisaitl launched toward him midway through the third period and hit him in the head. Barkov remained down for some time, needed help getting to the bench and went down the tunnel for the Florida locker room for further evaluation.

Mattias Ekholm scored and Stuart Skinner stopped 24 shots for the Oilers, who now have to buck some serious history.

Edmonton has only successfully rallied from a 2-0 deficit in a best-of-seven series once — against San Jose in Round 2 of the 2006 playoffs. And teams that start the Stanley Cup Final down 2-0 have come back to win only five times in 54 previous situations.

The series resumes with Game 3 in Edmonton on Thursday night.

Draisaitl was given only a minor penalty for roughing on the hit that knocked Barkov from the game. Rodrigues got a tip-in goal to make it 3-1, the first power-play score Edmonton allowed in its last 34 times being down a man.

Connor McDavid had a chance to get Edmonton within one on a breakaway with about 6 minutes left. He got stopped by Bobrovsky, and then he and Matthew Tkachuk tussled a bit along the boards after the play — the Panthers still steaming over the hit on Barkov.

Emotions were high all night. Edmonton's Warren Foegele was ejected in the