Draisaitl nets OT winner, Oilers top Panthers 4-3 to take Game 1 of Stanley Cup final
EDMONTON — The Edmonton Oilers are off to a good start on their road to redemption.
Leon Draisaitl capped a two-goal effort with the overtime winner to lift the Oilers to a 4-3 comeback victory over the Florida Panthers in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final rematch between the two teams on Wednesday.
Connor McDavid picked up his second assist of the game, chipping a pass in front to Draisaitl who scored a power-play goal with just 31 seconds remaining in extra time to give Edmonton the win after Florida’s Tomas Nosek put a puck over the glass late in OT.
Edmonton lost the first three games of the Cup final against Florida last season before storming back to force Game 7, where it suffered a narrow 2-1 loss. Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner, who made 29 saves, noted the importance of a winning start this time around.
“It’s huge,” he said. “Obviously when you look back at it (last year) if we get one win right away it is a completely different story.
“I think the way that we showed up right from the get-go and the way that we continued to keep on going even though we were down by two (goals), that shows a lot of character from us.”
Viktor Arvidsson and Mattias Ekholm also scored for the Oilers.
“It’s not like we dominated them or they dominated us,” Ekholm said. “I think we deserved to win tonight. But they are going to flush it and come back better for Game 2. It doesn’t really matter. It’s one game.
“We have to keep focusing on the task ahead. We know we have three more wins to go and it’s going to be a battle.”
Sam Bennett had a pair of goals and Brad Marchand also scored for the Panthers, who are playing in their third consecutive Stanley Cup final.
“It’s going to be a long series,” Bennett said. “I don’t think we expected this to be easy. We can learn some things from tonight and then we’re just going to move on.”
Sergei Bobrovsky made 42 saves in the loss.
Edmonton got off to a tremendous start with a goal just 66 seconds into the opening period.
A big rebound from a Kasperi Kapanen shot came out to Draisaitl and he sent his eighth of the playoffs into a wide-open net. It was the fastest goal to start a Cup final in nearly 50 years. Draisaitl didn’t score once in last year’s final.
Florida tied the game at 10:49 of the first period as a Carter Verhaeghe shot ticked off of a sprawling Bennett and past Skinner.
The Oilers unsuccessfully challenged the goal, saying Bennett interfered with their goalie on the play, but a quick review went in Florida’s favour. It proved costly, as the Panthers struck again just over a minute later on the ensuing power play, with Nate Schmidt making a nice feed to the side of the net to Marchand, who potted his fifth.
Florida took a two-goal lead just two minutes into the second period as Schmidt made a nice feed to give Bennett a free lane to the net and he beat Skinner stick-side for his 12th of the playoffs. Bennett set a new franchise record for goals in a single post-season and tied an NHL record for most road goals in a single post-season with 11.
Edmonton responded just 1:17 later as Arvidsson sent a shot through traffic that ticked off Bobrovsky and in for his second.
The Oilers tied the game up with 13:27 to play in the third period as McDavid sent it back to a pinching Ekholm who scored his first. Ekholm was playing in just his second game of the post-season after missing two months with injury, becoming the 20th Oiler with a goal in these playoffs.
Edmonton outshot Florida 14-2 in the third period.
It was the 19th Game 1 to go to overtime in Stanley Cup final history, with 14 of the 18 winners of those OT contests going on to win the series.
“I thought there were lots of good things, and we just put it behind us and get ready for the next game,” Bobrovsky said. “The next game is a big game.”
Coming into the game, the Panthers possessed an 18-0 road playoff record under head coach Paul Maurice when leading after the second period.
NOTES
Clubs that won Game 1 have gone on to win the Cup 76.5 per cent of the time (65-20), including all of the past four years… Draisaitl became the fifth player in NHL history to score three OT goals in a single post-season.
UP NEXT
Game 2 takes place on Friday in Edmonton.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 4, 2025.
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