Bennett remains hot on road for Panthers in Game 2 of Cup Final

EDMONTON -- Nate Schmidt has a simple approach when he’s on the ice with Sam Bennett in the offensive zone.

“Just find him,” the Florida Panthers defenseman said. “I just look for him. He just finds a way, right?”

Bennett keeps finding a way to score goals for the Panthers in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, particularly on the road.

Bennett set an NHL record by scoring his 12th road goal of the playoffs to help Florida even the Stanley Cup Final with a 5-4 double-overtime victory against the Edmonton Oilers in Game 2 at Rogers Place on Friday.

The Panthers head home for Game 3 of the best-of-7 series on Monday (8 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS, CBC), but perhaps Bennett wishes they could stay on the road a while longer. In addition to scoring 12 of his League-leading 13 goals this postseason on the road, the 28-year-old center has scored in five consecutive road games, breaking a Panthers record he set earlier in this playoff year.

“I don’t think there’s any difference between at home or on the road for me, but right now they seem to be going in,” Bennett said.

After losing 4-3 in overtime in Game 1 on Wednesday, Florida needed a strong start in Game 2 and Bennett provided it with his power-play goal 2:07 into the first period. Schmidt set it up with a pass from the high slot to Bennett in the right circle.

Bennett partially fanned on his shot, but he still got enough of it to get the puck to slide into the net past goalie Stuart Skinner to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead and surpass Mark Scheifele’s previous record of 11 road goals with the Winnipeg Jets in 2018.

Bennett has three goals in the first two games of the Cup Final after scoring twice in Game 1 -- one also off a feed from Schmidt.

“I’m getting some great passes from teammates and great setups,” said Bennett, whose 13 total playoff goals are also a Panthers’ record. “There’s nothing really I’m doing differently. It’s just the way it’s going right now.”

Panthers coach Paul Maurice, who coached the Jets when Scheifele set the previous record for road goals in a playoff year, said Bennett’s consistency regardless of where the game is played is one of the reasons for his success.

“There is no part of his game that changes home to road,” Maurice said. “He’s not intimidated by anything. He’s not a home performer. He’s not a matchup guy. He’ll play against anybody.”

Bennett’s goal scoring has been a key factor in Florida’s success on the road throughout the playoffs. With their Game 2 victory, they improved to 9-3 on the road in the playoffs, moving within one of the NHL record for most wins in a playoff year of 10 shared by six teams. Only one of those teams didn’t win the Stanley Cup -- the 2003-04 Calgary Flames, who lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning in seven games in the Cup Final.

“We’ve been great on the road all playoffs long and we’re a confident group on the road,” Bennett said. “I think it’s sometimes we enjoy being on the road. We enjoy being together. You get to spend more time together, dinners together, we’re in the lounge together all night and it really just brings our group together.

“I think that’s part of the reason why we’re having so much success on the road.”

After finishing third in the Atlantic Division during the regular season with 98 points (47-31-4), the Panthers knew they were unlikely to have home-ice advantage in any of their series, so they would need to play well on the road to complete their quest to repeat as Stanley Cup champions.

Florida had won five straight road games before losing Game 1 in Edmonton. That defeat did not hurt the Panthers’ confidence on the road, though.

Even without last change on the road, they’ve been able to hold their own against the high-powered Oilers offense headed by centers Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.

“Our game travels,” defenseman Seth Jones said. “We don’t change our game based off where we’re playing. Obviously, it’s great to play at home in front of our fans and feel that energy and feel that momentum at times, but we play the same way in front of them. We want to play a simple game, north-south game, and just try to make their life difficult.”