Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl worked their magic late in overtime, teaming up on the game-winning goal to lift the Edmonton Oilers to a thrilling 4-3 come-from-behind victory over the Florida Panthers in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final on Wednesday night at Rogers Place.
McDavid feathered a perfect pass into the slot, where Draisaitl beat Sergei Bobrovsky glove side for the winner at 19:29 of overtime. It was Draisaitl’s second goal of the night and McDavid’s second assist.
Florida’s Thomas Nosek was assessed a delay of game penalty when he accidentally flipped the puck over the glass and out of play at 18:17 of OT. Edmonton had been 0-for-3 on the power play to this point, but its big guns wouldn’t let this opportunity pass by.
Corey Perry started the scoring play with a neat pass from along the left-wing wall to McDavid below the circle. Then the Oilers’ superstars did their thing — Draisaitl somehow slipped behind Florida’s Seth Jones to bury the winner and cap a comeback from a 3-1 second-period deficit.
Game 2 is Friday at Rogers Place.
McDavid nearly made it 2-0 at 8:39, when he went forehand-backhand in the slot and fired a shot off the crossbar while killing a penalty. This was three minutes after McDavid used his elite speed to hustle back and catch Bennett on a partial breakaway after an Evan Bouchard turnover at center ice.
But for all the good they did in the first 10 minutes, the Oilers saw their lead disappear in a span of 1:41. It all started at 10:49 when Bennett was credited with his first goal of the night, one that came with some controversy. Carter Verhaeghe snapped a shot toward the net, which hit Bennett, who was lying in the blue paint, and caromed into the net.
The Oilers challenged for goalie interference, but video review upheld the on-ice call because Edmonton defenseman Brett Kulak tripped Bennett into the crease.
The unsuccessful challenge led to a delay of game penalty against the Oilers, and the Panthers made them pay at 12:30. Brad Marchand snapped a shot up and over Stuart Skinner after a gorgeous cross-ice feed by Nate Schmidt for a power-play goal.
It was Florida’s second goal on its first five shots. That 2-1 lead held up to the intermission despite Edmonton having a 4-on-3 power play later in the period. Bobrovsky made a pair of stellar saves against Draisaitl during the man advantage, then followed with a terrific 1-2 sequence at even strength, denying Mattias Janmark off the rush and Viktor Arvidsson’s turnaround rebound attempt at 16:08.
There was a fast start to the second period, when the teams traded goals 1:17 apart. The Panthers took a 3-1 lead two minutes in, when Bennett got behind three Oilers on the rush, skated into another sweet feed from Schmidt and beat Skinner with a backhand-to-forehand finish.
The Oilers caught a break at 3:17, when Bobrovsky misplayed a long slap shot by Arvidsson that slipped under his glove and into the net to make it 3-2. The Panthers, though, regrouped and controlled play most of the rest of the second period. Skinner was really good, stopping 16 of 17 shots in the period, and the Panthers were unable to extend their lead.
The best save in the second, however, belonged to Bobrovsky, who faced only eight shots in the period. He made an excellent pad stop on Bouchard’s bomb, which was set up by a slick pass from McDavid at 14:30.
It was all Oilers in the third period. They outshot the Panthers 14-2, had each of the four high-danger chances in the period, and finished with an expected goals share of 78.93 percent, per Natural Stat Trick. Despite their massive territorial edge, the Oilers managed only the tying goal by defenseman Mattias Ekholm at 6:33 and had to settle for getting the game to overtime.
The Panthers started fast in OT with four shots in the first 1:20. But they petered out, managing only two more shots against Skinner, who finished with 29 saves. Skinner made an excellent stop in overtime, when he barely got a glove on an Evan Rodrigues shot through an Aleksander Barkov screen.
Bobrovsky, who finished with 42 saves, faced 10 shots in OT. Kasperi Kapanen just missed winning the game for the Oilers at 7:05 after he split Panthers defense for a Grade-A chance. At 9:02, Bobrovsky robbed Trent Frederic on the doorstep by bursting left to right across the goal line to make a save. Then he stoned Bouchard on a partial breakaway at 17:54.
But it wasn’t enough to hold off the Oilers, who scored the Game 1 winner less than two minutes later.
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3 takeaways after Oilers defeat Panthers 4-3 in overtime in Game 1 of Stanley Cup Final
1. The OT Oilers
The Oilers have now played four overtime games in these playoffs, and they are a perfect 4-0. Draisaitl has three of those OT goals, tying an NHL record for a single postseason.
They defeated the Los Angeles Kings once in overtime in the first round and the Vegas Golden Knights twice in Round 2. That included the Game 5 clincher, when Kapanen stuffed home the winner.
Edmonton was the better team in this overtime and had the far better scoring chances, taking control of the extra period after Florida’s quick start. The Oilers seemed a step ahead throughout OT, just as they had throughout the third period. Except for the second period, it can be argued that the Oilers had the better of things for three of the four periods. When they got that power play in OT, it almost felt inevitable that the Oilers — who were converting at 30 percent on the power play through three rounds — would cash in. And they did.
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2. Let’s get physical
Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch calmly noted during a TNT bench interview that his team “doesn’t get enough credit” for its physical play. Certainly, the Panthers must’ve taken notice Wednesday night. The Oilers were credited with 52 hits, three more than the uber-physical Panthers. All but two Oilers skaters had at least one hit, and even Draisaitl (four) and McDavid (three) joined in. Evander Kane was an absolute beast with nine hits, including a tone-setter in the first period when he obliterated Aaron Ekblad behind the Panthers net.
Let’s see if they can keep it up throughout the series, but it was a heckuva thunderous first impression by the Oilers in this best-of-7 series.
3. What happened to the champs?
The Panthers were 10-0 in these playoffs when leading after two periods. They had also won eight times in 10 road games. But they couldn’t put this one away after quieting the raucous crowd in Edmonton by taking a 3-1 lead early in the second period.
Arvidsson’s goal was the turning point in Game 1. It wasn’t a good goal allowed by Bobrovsky, one that he wanted back for sure. But Florida did get back to their game and controlled the rest of that period. They just couldn’t sustain it. The Panthers couldn’t beat Skinner and extend their lead. That cost them in the end because Skinner and his teammates got better as this game moved along.
We’re not accustomed to seeing the Panthers have to chase when a big game is on the line. But they were chasing the Oilers and not winning the races throughout the final 40 minutes. Let’s see if that becomes a trend in Game 2.
