Leon Draisaitl scored his second goal of the game on the power play at 19:29 of overtime to give Edmonton a 4-3 victory over the Florida Panthers in Game 1 of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final at Rogers Place on Wednesday (June 4).
Viktor Arvidsson and Mattias Ekholm additionally tallied for the Oilers, who trailed 3-1 in the second period before scoring three unanswered goals to go ahead 1-0 in the best-of-seven series. Edmonton goalie Stuart Skinner made 29 saves in the winning effort.
Sam Bennett scored twice for the Panthers, who also got a power-play goal from Brad Marchand. Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky faced 46 shots, the most for any Panthers netminder in over two years.
This marks the Oilers’ first series lead in the Stanley Cup Final since 1990, when they also won Game 1 in overtime. That was also the last year that Edmonton won the championship.
Here are three takeaways from a thrilling victory for the home team in Edmonton’s Ice District on Wednesday night:
Oilers Continue to Defy the Odds
From the very beginning of the 2025 NHL postseason, the Oilers have faced numerous statistics that say they’re not supposed to win – and they seem to defy that data almost every single time.
The latest instance came Wednesday at Rogers Place, where Florida was ahead 2-1 after 20 minutes and 3-2 at the end of the second period.
Coming into the game, Florida had a record of 31-0 when holding the lead at the end of the first or second period in the Stanley Cup Playoffs during Paul Maurice’s tenure as Panthers head coach. Now it’s 31-1, thanks to Draisaitl’s goal with 31 seconds remaining in the first overtime.
Bennett had given Florida a 3-1 lead with a goal at 2:00 of the second period, but Arvidsson scored just 77 seconds later to pull Edmonton back within one. Ekholm then tied the game at 6:33 of the third period when he took a pass from Oilers captain Connor McDavid and put the puck past Bobrovsky.
This was Edmonton’s seventh come-from-behind victory of the 2025 postseason. The Oilers set the Stanley Cup Playoff record with six straight comeback wins earlier this postseason.
In Round 1, Edmonton twice beat the Los Angeles Kings after trailing to start the third period. The Kings had only lost once in regulation during the entire 2024-25 season when leading after 40 minutes.
Challenge Could Have Been Costly
The Oilers also overcame the odds by coming out on top despite losing a tremendously ill-advised decision by Kris Knoblauch to challenge Sam Bennett’s goal that tied the game up at 1-1 midway through the first period for goaltender interference.
Bennett clearly stumbled into Skinner as the goal was being scored, the contact appeared to be caused by Oilers’ defenceman Brett Kulak getting his skates tangled up with the Florida forward.
While any fan watching the replay on the Sportsnet or TNT broadcast could tell that the likelihood of the challenge succeeding was not good, Edmonton’s coach decided to gamble despite his team’s dreadful penalty kill in the playoffs, which now has a success rate of just 65.3% after going 1-for-2 in Game 1.
To the surprise of few, but the dread of many Oilers fans, the goal was upheld when the official ruled that Kulak had caused Bennett to contact Skinner. The lost challenge led to a power play for the Panthers, who capitalized on Edmonton’s struggling penalty-kill with Marchand scoring at 12:30 to give Florida a 2-1 lead.
It was a monumental momentum shift that could have cost Edmonton the game. And when Florida went ahead by two goals early in the second period, it appeared that might be the case.
But to the Oilers’ credit, they rallied, and in the process became the first team this NHL postseason to win after losing a coach’s challenge. Over the first three rounds of this postseason, teams were 0-4 in games in which they had lost a challenge.
All Business for the Oilers
The ability to shake off setbacks has become one of the defining traits of the 2025 Oilers. Much was made of how Edmonton reacted after winning the Western Conference championship last week, treating it like business as usual, a reflection of their overall attitude throughout this postseason, during which they have played with confidence and composure, borne of maturity and experience.
Now that they’re back on the biggest stage, nothing has changed. Observing the demeanour of Draisaitl and McDavid during the news conference following Game 1 told you everything you need to know.
Even while recounting the biggest goal of his life – an OT winner in Game 1 of the championship final, something only 18 other players have done in NHL history – Draisaitl didn’t crack a smile.
“It’s a special feeling, it’s great for right now but we’ve got to look ahead and get ready for Game 2,” said Draisaitl, who scored his first goal of the game at 1:06 of the first period to give Edmonton a 1-0 lead.
The mission continues for Draisaitl and his teammates on Friday (June 6) when Edmonton hosts the second game of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final at Rogers Place, looking to go up 2-0 on the Panthers.
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