Draisaitl Overtime Hero in Game 1 of Stanley Cup Final, Oilers Take 1-0 Lead over Panthers

Leon Draisaitl was the overtime hero in Game 1 of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final as the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Florida Panthers 4-3, taking a 1-0 lead at Rogers place on Wednesday night.

With 1:45 to go in overtime, Panthers forward Tomas Nosek put the Oilers on the power play after taking a delay of game penalty for clearing the puck over the glass inside his own zone.

Drasaitl made the Panthers pay on the man-advantage, scoring his second goal of the night with 31 seconds to go in the first overtime, leading Edmonton to the Game 1 win.

In the win, Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner had 29 saves and stopped all six Panthers’ shots.

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 42 of 46 shots faced in the loss.

Just 66 seconds into the series, an unmarked Leon Draisaitl scored the first goal of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final after putting away a second rebound past Sergei Bobrovsky.

Draisaitl went goalless in seven games during last year’s final.

Just about midway through the first, Carter Verhaeghe fired a puck towards goal that deflected off of Sam Bennett, who had fallen backwards towards Oilers’ goaltender Stuart Skinner, into the net, tying the game at 1-1. Edmonton challenged that Bennett interfered with Skinner — which he certainly did — prior to the puck going in. However, the goal would count after review showed Bennett was tripped by Oilers defenseman Brett Kulak. Florida would go to the power play as a result of the failed challenge.

With his 11th goal of the postseason, Bennett moved into a tie with teammates Matthew Tkachuk (2022-23) and Carter Verhaeghe (2023-24) for most goals in a single postseason in Panthers history.

On the subsequent power play following the unsuccessful coach’s challenge, Brad Marchand put the Panthers up 2-1 with his 61st career playoff goal and eighth in the Stanley Cup Final.

Despite conceding just over a minute into the game and being outshot 15-7 in the period, Florida went to the first intermission with a one-goal lead.

Exactly two minutes into the second period, Bennett scored his second of the night, giving Florida a 3-1 lead with his 12th goal of the playoffs — the most in one postseason in Panthers history.

The Oilers got one back just 1:17 after Florida took a two-goal lead after Viktor Arvidsson blasted a slap shot underneath Bobrovsky’s glove, cutting the deficit to 3-2.

6:33 into the third, the Oilers scored a second unanswered goal to tie the game at 3-3 after Mattias Ekholm beat Bobrovsky through a screen with his first goal of the postseason.

In last year’s final that went the distance, none of the seven games saw a game go past regulation.

This time around, 60 minutes wouldn’t be enough as the team’s ended the third tied 3-3, setting up overtime in Game 1.