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The first game of the Stanley Cup Final rematch belongs to the Edmonton Oilers, as Leon Draisaitl’s second goal of the game was the overtime winner against the Florida Panthers on Wednesday night.
The 4-3 victory was a come-from-behind win for Edmonton, as they were down 3-1 at one point in this game, but scored three unanswered goals for a statement victory on their home ice.
After tying the game in the third period at three apiece, an overtime period was needed to determine the winner of Game 1, and it almost looked like another was necessary as both team’s chances couldn’t be seen in the net.
However, a costly mistake by Panthers forward Tomas Nosek saw him flip the puck over the glass in his own defensive zone, which is an immediate delay of game penalty.
Now, with a man advantage, the Oilers capitalized, and it had to be Connor McDavid making the nifty saucer pass to his trusty teammate Draisaitl, who came flying in front of the net to hammer the puck past Panthers netminder Sergei Bobrovsky.
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The goal, which came with 31 seconds left to play in the period, was also assisted by Corey Perry.
Draisaitl started the scoring just as he finished it in Game 1, he found the back of the net with just over a minute into the first period. He was in the right place at the right time, as a shot from Kasperi Kapanen deflected off Bobrovsky and landed right onto Draisaitl’s stick, who slapped it into the net to take the one-goal advantage.
But later in the first period, a controversial goal by Florida’s Sam Bennett tied the game at one apiece.
Bennett was present in front of the net with two Oilers defenders around him when Carter Verhaeghe took a shot that hit off Bennett and got past goaltender Stuart Skinner. The Panthers, though, believe Bennett had goalie interference.
Upon further review, it appears Bennett was tripped by Brett Kulak as the puck was being shot, leading to him falling into Skinner. The goal stood and the game was tied.
Just minutes later, Brad Marchand, the Boston Bruins legend who the Panthers traded for at the deadline, took a cross-ice pass during a power play and made the perfect shot past Skinner to take a 2-1 lead.
The Panthers had momentum going into the second period, and once again, it was Bennett getting one past Skinner to take a solid 3-1 lead. Bennett was skating in transition when Nate Schmidt placed a perfect pass on his stick, and he did the rest for his second goal of the game.
As we learned from last year’s final, the Oilers will not go down easy, and that appears to be the same theme as they came back with their own timely goals.
Viktor Arvidsson took a slap shot once the Oilers entered the offensive zone, and Bobrovsky was too late to react as it whizzed past his left side and stayed true into the net.
With a 3-2 deficit going into the third period, Edmonton knew they had to get on the board first to put pressure on Florida. That’s exactly what happened as Mattias Ekholm scored his first Stanley Cup Playoffs goal after Connor McDavid dished a back-handed pass to the front of the zone and it found his stick. Bobrovsky was completely out of position with bodies in front of him as Ekholm shot the puck into the net.
Through two periods, it was the Panthers’ dominating play on the ice, but the Oilers turned it up a notch in the third period and never looked back. They outshot the Panthers 46-32 on the night, while Skinner made 29 saves in the win as well.
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