Leon Draisaitl made certain that the Edmonton Oilers won’t be playing from behind to start this year’s Stanley Cup Final against the Florida Panthers.
After losing the first three games of the teams’ seven-game series last year, the host Oilers overcame a two-goal deficit on Wednesday to post a 4-3 overtime victory over the Panthers in Game 1.
Florida’s Tomas Nosek was whistled for a delay-of-game penalty late in the extra session, setting the stage for Draisaitl to cap his two-goal performance at 19:29 of overtime.
Corey Perry fed superstar captain Connor McDavid, who sent a cross-slot feed to an unmarked Draisaitl for an easy conversion from the right hashmarks.
“Obviously (McDavid) making the great play to Leon — it’s not the first time you’ve seen that,” Edmonton’s Kasperi Kapanen said. “It was a long, hard game, so it was just happy to see that go in.”
Draisaitl, who also scored 66 seconds into the game, has nine goals this postseason — including an NHL-record three in overtime, tying Perry (2017 Anaheim Ducks), Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk (2023), Mel Hill (1939 Boston Bruins) and Maurice Richard (1951 Montreal Canadiens) for the most in one year.
“It’s a good start for us, but we’ve got to regroup and get ready for Game 2 (on Friday in Edmonton),” Draisaitl told Sportsnet.
Florida coach Paul Maurice was asked what he plans to say to Nosek after the crucial penalty in overtime.
“You remind him after the game of being down 0-2 to Toronto (in the Eastern Conference semifinals) and that his line came in and changed everything. We’re not here without Tomas Nosek,” Maurice said. “It’s a tough break. We’ll make sure he doesn’t eat alone tonight. He has got lots of people eating at his table and reminding how good he’s been to us.”
Viktor Arvidsson and defenseman Mattias Ekholm each scored a goal, McDavid and Kapanen both notched two assists and Stuart Skinner made 29 saves for the Oilers.
Florida’s Sam Bennett scored twice to set a franchise record with 12 goals this postseason. Eleven of his goals have come on the road, tying the NHL postseason record set by Mark Scheifele in 2018.
“Look, it’s going to be a long series. We didn’t expect this to be easy,” Bennett said. “We can learn some things from tonight and move on.”
Brad Marchand also tallied for the Panthers. Carter Verhaeghe and defenseman Nate Schmidt each notched two assists, and Sergei Bobrovsky turned aside 42 shots.
Bennett extended Florida’s lead to 3-1 two minutes into the second period. He accepted Schmidt’s seam pass before shifting from backhand to forehand and then beating Skinner.
Arvidsson’s shot from above the left circle handcuffed Bobrovsky to halve the deficit 1:17 later.
McDavid’s saucer feed from behind the net found Ekholm, who wired a shot from the left circle to level the contest at 6:33 of the third.
After being shut out by Florida in Game 1 of last year’s Stanley Cup Final, Edmonton got the early jump just 66 seconds into the Wednesday contest.
Defenseman Jake Walman’s shot from just above the left circle fluttered in on Bobrovsky, who was unable to glove the puck. Kapanen’s response was denied by Bobrovsky, but Draisaitl alertly converted from the right doorstep to open the scoring.
The Panthers forged a 1-1 tie at 10:49 of the first after Verhaeghe’s shot caromed in off Bennett while the latter was falling into Skinner. Edmonton unsuccessfully challenged the play, with video review showing Bennett was tripped by Oilers defenseman Brett Kulak before making contact with Skinner.
The Oilers’ unsuccessful challenge resulted in a power play that Florida converted.
Schmidt’s diagonal pass from the left circle found Marchand at the doorstep for an easy conversion to give the Panthers a 2-1 lead with 7:30 remaining in the first.
–Field Level Media
