Leon Draisaitl scored two goals, including the game winner at 19:29 overtime, to deliver a 4-3 win to the Edmonton Oilers in Game One of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final. Florida overcame a 3-1 deficit to take the series opener against the Florida Panthers at Rogers Place.
Edmonton put up a picket fence, scoring once apiece in each period of the game. Draisaitl (8th and 9th goals of the playoffs) opened the scoring in the first period and, later, closed it out with the winner in sudden death. Last year in the Final, Draisaitl did not score any goals. In a losing cause on Wednesday night, Panthers netminder Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 42 of 46 shots.
Meanwhile, Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner made 29 saves on 32 shots to earn the win. He turned in his best work in the second period, stopping 16 of 17 shots to keep the game in reach. Viktor Arvidsson (2nd) and Mattias Ekholm (1st) scored Edmonton’s second and third goals of the game to force overtime after the Panthers briefly held a two-goal lead. Connor McDavid (21st and 22nd assists) set up Ekholm’s tying tally and Drasaitl’s power play winner late in overtime.
Sam Bennett (11th and 12th) tallied twice for Florida. Brad Marchand (power play, 5th) also scored. Kris Knoblauch’s team held Paul Maurice’s squad to a combined eight shots on goal in the game’s final 39-plus minutes.
Additionally, special teams were a wash. The Panthers went 1-for-2 on the power play. However, when Draisaitl converted McDavid’s power play feed in sudden death, the Oilers went 1-for-4 and skated off as the winner of the series opener. Thomas Nosek’s automatic delay of game penalty for accidentally putting the puck over the glass in the defensive zone proved to be fatal for Florida.
Draisaitl strikes first, Florida answers twice
Just 66 seconds after the game’s opening faceoff, Draisaitl sent the already-energized home crowd into a frenzy. Draisaitl pounced on a Kasperi Kapanen rebound to give Edmonton a quick 1-0 lead. Jake Walman provided the secondary helper.
Later, Edmonton killed off a Corey Perry high-sticking minor to stay ahead, 1-0.
The one-goal Oilers lead held until midway through the first period. At 10:41, Bennett knotted the score at 1-1, assisted by Carter Verhaeghe and Matthew Tkachuk. On the play, Bennett redirected a Verhaeghe shot past Skinner from just in front of the net. Edmonton challenged the play for goaltender interference but the challenge failed, much to the home crowd’s displeasure.
With a two-minute power play for the automatic delay of game penalty triggered by the failed Knoblauch challenge, the Panthers pounced on a 2-1 lead at 12:30. Marchand took a pass from Nate Schmidt and scored from the bottom of the right circle. The second assist went to Evan Rodrigues.
McDavid drew an interference penalty on Anton Lundell at 12:40. However, the 5-on-4 was short-lived. A mere six seconds after play resumed, Perry returned to the penalty box for tripping Sam Reinhart. Then, with the two sides still skating 4-on-4, Edmonton got a 4-on-3 power play on an Aaron Ekblad holding minor against Draisaitl.
No further scoring ensued in the first period. Moreover, no further penalties were called the rest of the game until late in the second period. First period shots were 14-7 in Edmonton’s favor, with a 6-3 Oilers edge in high-danger chances.
Oilers avoid trouble in the second period
The middle frame of regulation mostly belonged to the Panthers. Florida racked up a 17-8 shot on goal advantage and a 16-6 scoring chance edge. Additionally, the Panthers briefly held a two-goal lead on the scoreboard.
At the 2:00 mark of the second period, Bennett provided a 3-1 lead off the rush. Assisted by Schmidt and Verhaeghe, Bennett moved in one-on-one with goaltender Skinner and wristed home a shot. However, the Oilers answered quickly.
At 3:17, Arvidsson ripped a shot past a screened Bobrovsky to cut the gap to 3-2. On the play, Vasily Pozkoldin backhanded a pass to Arvidsson and kept skating toward the net. Arvidsson used his teammate as a screen and shot the puck past Bobrovosky. The secondary assist went to Evan Bouchard.
Bobrovsky had to make several tough saves to keep the Panthers in the lead. Nevertheless, Skinner was the much busier of the two goalies in the second period. The Panthers took their 3-2 lead to intermission but Edmonton was very much within striking distance.
Oilers dominate the third period
The third period was all Edmonton. The Oilers started the stanza on a carryover power play from a Rodrigues high-sticking penalty with 1:13 left in the second period. The Panthers got through the kill, but the momentum increasingly swung in the Oilers’ favor.
Finally, at 6:31, the Oilers forged a 3-3 tie. McDavid gained entry into the attack zone. After getting the puck back from Kasperi Kapanen, McDavid found Ekholm pinching down in the left circle. The Edmonton defenseman made no mistake, hitting the mark.
Bobrovsky was under siege for the rest of regulation. Edmonton doubled up Florida on scoring chances (10-5), had a 4-0 lead in high-danger chances per Natural Stat Trick, and led 14-2 in overall shots on goal. Among others, Draisaitl (four shots on goal) and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had good looks at the net. Defenseman Bouchard bombed away almost at will.
Through regulation, Edmonton had a 36-26 edge in shots. Florida won the decided majority of the faceoffs but had trouble moving down the ice and testing goaltender Skinner.
Draisaitl supplies the winning goal
Overtime play swung back and forth. Shots favored the Oilers (10-6) but chances were evenly divided. That is until Nosek’s delay of game penalty at 18:17 set up the exact scenario the Panthers most needed to avoid: McDavid to Draisaitl to the back of the net. At 19:29, it was game over.
Final thoughts
The Oilers showed why they are a different — and improved — team from the one that took the Panthers to seven games in last year’s Stanley Cup Final. It’s a more structured team but no less dangerous. It’s also a deeper squad, although McDavid and Draisaitl still drive the bus. The third period looked much like lengthy stretches of the Western Conference Final series against Dallas.
Florida needs Game Two to salvage a split in Edmonton. The Panthers must avoid a “must sweep in Sunrise” scenario to realistically win the series. The Edmonton crowd was outstanding in Game One, supplying massive energy and emotion throughout the game. The crowd could sense their team was still in a good spot even when the Oilers did not score on their carryover power play early in the third period.
Coming into Game One, Florida’s two main advantages were the Oilers’ struggles to kill penalties and their edge with Bobrovsky in goal. Both of these elements helped the Panthers in Game One. Even so, Edmonton worked around these factors. They through all sorts of shots from varied angles (often with traffic) at Bobrovsky. Moreover, the Oilers did more attacking than defending. Skinner did his part, especially in the second period.
