If there was any doubt whether the Oilers would be shell-shocked after their last seven-game joust with the Panthers, those notions were swept away amid a flurry of goals in Game 1 of the 2025 Stanley Cup Finals.
The match was a testy affair, taking on similar contours to the clashes that made up last year’s memorable series. Edmonton took an early lead, only to surrender it to a trio of Florida markers — two from Sam Bennett and one from Brad Marchand.
The first Bennett goal was especially contentious, as it was upheld after a short review and spawned plenty of debate among media and fans alike:
Carter Verhaeghe ties it up with a GOAL for the Florida Panthers 🔥pic.twitter.com/AwBv9SBc7P
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) June 5, 2025
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In the Paul Maurice era, a Panthers advantage at the end of the first or second period of a playoff game is a death knell for opposition sides.
Incredible stat courtesy of the NHL: Florida is 31-0 when holding a lead at the end of the first or second period in Stanley Cup Playoff games since head coach Paul Maurice was hired in 2023.
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) June 5, 2025
Yet, beneath the glint Rogers Place lights on Wednesday night, the Oilers turned things around. The result of said rally? A momentous 4-3 overtime win, capped off with a wondrous Leon Draisaitl finish.
Here’s what you need to know.
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Leon Draisaitl game-winning goal Game 1
Edmonton offered a strong rebuttal following Bennett’s second strike at the 18-minute mark of the second period. Viktor Arvidsson slid a pellet beyond Sergei Bobrovsky to half the Panthers’ advantage a little more than a minute later, while Mattias Ekholm leveled things in the third with a one-timed effort inside the left face-off circle.
Edmonton remained on top for much of the final period of regulation. Still, Bobrovsky stood tall, fending off a slew of daggers toward his cage.
Overtime beckoned. The sudden-death frame was topsy-turvy, as they tend to be in the postseason; Florida looked the better side in the period’s opening paces, while the Oilers found their rhythm as the frame developed.
Edmonton continued to pepper Bobrovsky with serpents, each whistling closer to the target than the last. The Panthers’ defense was caught in a gale of terror. The source of their anxiety: the Oilers’ Hart Trophy winners — Draisaitl, Connor McDavid, and Corey Perry.
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So, with a little less than two minutes left in the frame, they snapped. Tomas Nosek was handed a delay of game penalty after launching a puck over the boards.
With a man advantage — and more space to work with — Edmonton’s attacking unit grew more fearsome. With 30 seconds left in the frame, Perry flicked a pass around the bend to McDavid. As the reigning Conn Smythe Award winner bore down on Bobrovsky’s frame, Draisaitl found a pasture of his own outside the crease.
McDavid whipped a saucer pass to Draisaitl, who rocketed his effort beyond Bobrovsky to send the masses of Edmontonians who pooled into his home ground into bedlam.
LEON DRAISAITL WINS GAME 1 IN @ENERGIZER OVERTIME FOR THE EDMONTON OILERS‼️ #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/sFdPUR6WcP
— NHL (@NHL) June 5, 2025
“That’s four great hockey plays in a row,” Draisaitl told TNT’s Darren Pang postgame. “That’s what our team’s all about. We get excited for each other, and we never quit.”
Leon Draisaitl with a HUGE Game 1 performance, netting the first and LAST goals of the game…
Now he chats with @Panger40 after the OT GWG pic.twitter.com/AmzzayIe5T
— NHLonTNT (@NHL_On_TNT) June 5, 2025
The tally proved notable for multiple reasons. For one, it broke Florida’s unbeaten streak in playoff games it held a two-goal advantage in after the first- or second-period. Under Maurice, the Panthers went 31-0 in such situations. Not anymore.
“I thought we hung in there, we were mature and obviously, we needed just one look and capitalized on that,” Draisaitl said.
Furthermore, Draisaitl tied four predecessors — Perry, Mel Hill, Rocket Richard, and Matthew Tkachuk — for most overtime game-winners in a single playoff run with three.
Wednesday’s joust represents just one game of what figures to be a lengthy series, but if it’s any indication of what’s to come, viewers could have a classic on their hands — again.
