Leon Draisaitl came through in the clutch, scoring a power-play goal in overtime that propelled the Edmonton Oilers to an exhilarating 4-3 comeback victory over the Florida Panthers in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final on Wednesday night. The Oilers found themselves trailing 3-1 but managed to rally back during regulation.
They capitalized on a delay-of-game penalty called on Florida’s Tomas Nosek late in overtime. As the power play wound down, Corey Perry set up captain Connor McDavid, who delivered a perfect pass across the ice to Draisaitl. With no one around him in the right circle, Draisaitl made no mistake. This marked his second goal of the night and his ninth of the playoffs, with three of those being game-winners in overtime.
Viktor Arvidsson and Mattias Ekholm also found the net for Edmonton, while McDavid and Kasperi Kapanen each racked up two assists. Goalie Stuart Skinner was impressive, making 29 saves. With this win, the Oilers now lead the best-of-seven series 1-0, and Game 2 is scheduled for Friday night in Edmonton.
On the other side, Florida’s Sam Bennett had a standout performance despite the loss, scoring twice and setting a new franchise record for the Panthers with 12 goals in a single postseason. Remarkably, 11 of those goals have come on the road, tying an NHL playoff record. Brad Marchand also scored for the Panthers, and both Carter Verhaeghe and Nate Schmidt contributed with two assists each. Goalie Sergei Bobrovsky was kept on his toes, making 42 saves throughout the game.
The Panthers seemed to have everything under control at first, especially when Bennett netted his second goal just two minutes into the second period, putting them ahead 3-1. But the Oilers quickly responded—Arvidsson found the back of the net from the left circle just over a minute later, narrowing the gap. Then, in the third period, McDavid made a beautiful saucer pass from behind the net to Ekholm, who fired it in to tie the game with about 13 minutes remaining in regulation.
This time around, the Oilers came out swinging, unlike last year’s Cup Final when they were shut out in Game 1.
Just 66 seconds into the game, a floating shot from Jake Walman gave Bobrovsky a bit of trouble. Kapanen couldn’t capitalize on the rebound, but Draisaitl was right there to pounce on it and score the first goal.