Stanley Cup Final Game 1: Oilers’ Leon Draisaitl scores OT winner to beat Panthers

The Stanley Cup Playoffs are back, which means that for the next two months, we’ll get non-stop exciting action in the NHL as we witness history in another team looking to win a championship. Here at Daily Faceoff, we’ll be keeping you in the loop of everything that happened in the playoffs, every day until the Stanley Cup is hoisted in June.

The first game of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final needed overtime, and it was Leon Draisaitl scoring his second of the game to give the Edmonton Oilers a 4-3 win over the Florida Panthers, giving them a 1-0 series lead.

The Oilers couldn’t have asked for a better start, as just 66 seconds into the game, Leon Draisaitl snapping a rebound past Panthers’ goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky to make it 1-0.

Florida responded with two quick goals, the first coming off a Sam Bennett tip past Stuart Skinner. After a failed coach’s challenge from Edmonton bench boss Kris Knoblauch, Brad Marchand one timed a pass to give the Panthers a 2-1 lead.

Bennett scored his second of the game just minutes into the second period, giving him his 12th of the playoffs and the Panthers a 3-1 lead. But just a minute later, Viktor Arvidsson’s slap shot made its way through traffic and past Bobrovsky to cut the deficit to one.

Down 3-2 seven minutes into the third period, Connor McDavid backhanded a pass in front of the Panthers net, with the puck finding the stick of Mattias Ekholm clapping it past Bobrovsky to tie the game 3-3.

Edmonton applied pressure on Florida throughout the third period, outshooting them 14-2, but they weren’t able to take the lead, and this game went to overtime.

The chances went back and forth in the extra frame, but at the 19:29 mark, Corey Perry found McDavid down low, who fed Draisaitl in front of the Florida net and buried it to score his second of the game and give the Oilers a 4-3 overtime win and a 1-0 series lead.

Game 2 of the Final is Friday, then the teams fly south for Games 3 and 4 on Monday and next Thursday, respectively.