June 5, 2025 by Ryan Lotsberg

The 2025 Stanley Cup Final between the Edmonton Oilers and the Florida Panthers got underway with a classic Game 1 on Wednesday night. The Oilers struck first just 1:06 into the game to ignite the already raucous Rogers Place crowd.

Sam Bennett tipped a point shot home to tie the game at one about half way through the first period. Bennett fell into Stuart Skinner, so the Oilers challenged the goal for goaltender interference. The video showed that Brett Kulak’s skate clipped Bennett’s skate, and that caused Bennett to fall into Skinner, so the goal was upheld and the Oilers were assessed a delay of game penalty. Brad Marchand made the Oilers pay on the ensuing powerplay, and the Panthers entered the first intermission with a 2-1 lead.

Bennett scored again two minutes into the second period to give the Panthers a 3-1 lead. Things were looking fairly grim for the Oilers, but if we’ve learned one thing about the Oilers during these playoffs, it’s that they’re never out of a hockey game. The Oilers responded 1:17 after Bennett’s second goal. The Oilers found a way to tie the game 6:33 into the third period, and the game went to overtime.

Tomas Nosek took a “delay of game – puck over glass” penalty with 1:53 left in overtime, and the Oilers capitalized on their overtime powerplay opportunity to earn the Game 1 victory.

Callouts

The typical road team mental strategy when they play in a hostile environment is to survive the first ten minutes. The Oilers did great work to go up 1-0 just 1:06 in, but then they squandered that lead seemingly in the blink of an eye.

At first glance, I thought it was goalie interference; but the final replay they showed on the broadcast clearly showed Kulak’s skate clipping Bennett’s skate. It should have been challenged. Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch doubled down on that challenge after the game by saying he would make that challenge again, but I don’t think there was a case to be made for goalie interference on that play because Bennett fell as the result of the actions of an Oilers defender. Goalie interference is murky at best, but this particular play seemed pretty cut and dry.

The penalty kill needed to step up to kill that one off and to kill the Panthers’ momentum, but they couldn’t kill it off. Kudos to the team for pulling out the win despite that short and unnecessary two-goal swing.

The lead was only one at that point though. The 3-1 goal was the result of multiple defensive misreads. The play started in the Panthers zone. John Klingberg pinched down the right wall. Connor Brown was the winger on the side of the ice, so his responsibility was to cover Kilngberg’s position. The puck got chipped to Carter Verhaeghe in the middle of the ice. He made a clever play to stop and look for a pass to streaking Panthers. The defenceman, Nate Schmidt, jumped up into the play and took the pass from Verhaeghe. 

That little stop and pass by Verhaeghe did a couple of things. First, it made Brown drift a little too far to the middle, which opened up the passing lane to Schmidt. It also forced Jake Walman to vacate his defensive side to cover for Brown and Klingberg. Second, it forced Adam Henrique to stop skating for half of a second. Henrique was back checking on Bennett. Bennett was streaking through the open ice vacated by Walman. That little hesitation by Henrique gave Bennett enough space to get ahead of him. Henrique couldn’t catch Bennett, and he scored a nice goal.

It was a smart play by Verhaghe and Schmidt; but Brown made a mental error by not committing to covering Klingberg’s position, and Walman shouldn’t have vacated his spot on the opposite side of the ice.

Standouts

Leon Draisaitl opened the scoring for the Oilers, and he scored the overtime winner. Seth Jones charged at Ryan Nugent-Hopkins a little too aggressively, which forced the Panthers into help defence mode. Nugent-Hopkins banked a pass off the wall to Corey Perry in the left corner. Niko Mikkola had to rotate over to pressure Perry, and Perry made a pretty little behind the back pass to Connor McDavid. McDavid received the puck below the goal line and raced towards the net. Aleksander Barkov was left to defend a two-on-one with McDavid below the goal line and Draisaitl crashing the net from the right side. McDavid feathered a pass to Draisaitl, and Draisaitl buried it under Bobrovsky’s glove to send Edmonton into a frenzy.

It was Draisaitl’s third overtime winner in this postseason, which ties a NHL single postseason record. The German superstar didn’t score a single goal in last year’s Stanley Cup Final, and he got two in Game 1 of this year’s final. He was playing through injuries last year, but he’s healthy and in fine form right now.

Shoutouts

McDavid had primary assists on the game tying goal and the overtime goal. He gained the blue line along the right half wall and dished it to Kasperi Kapanen, who cut to the wall and returned the pass to McDavid below the faceoff circle. McDavid cut to the net and laid a backhand pass through the slot. It was a perfect pass for Mattias Ekholm to lean into a shot over top of Bobrovsky’s glove.

Kapanen was tremendous in Game 1. He had two assists, including the secondary assist on the game tying goal outlined above. Kapanen also had a chance to score a highlight reel goal for the ages in overtime. He used his blazing speed to split two Panthers defenders and found himself on a partial breakaway. Bobrovsky went for the poke check, and Kapanen was able to dodge that and get a shot away. Unfortunately for Kapanen, the shot grazed the outside of the right post. His five hits were tied for second on the team. Kapanen was deservedly named the game’s third star.

Evander Kane was the only Oilers with more hits than Kapanen in Game 1. Kane wasn’t just hitting people, he was crushing them. He was squarely in the mix all night long. He didn’t get a point, but his line with Draisaitl and Kapanen was great. He was +2 with two shots on goal in addition to his nine hits.

Viktor Arvidsson blasted a slap shot through Sergei Bobrovsky to cut the Panthers lead to one early in the second period. His second goal of the playoffs came at a great time as the Panthers had the momentum and a two-goal lead at the time.

Aside from the defensive misread on Bennett’s second goal, I thought Walman had a strong game. His poise with the puck in his own end and his ability to skate himself out of trouble is an asset, and he moves the puck smartly. Walman blocked four shots, and two of them left him noticeably wincing in pain. He gutted it out though. He also got an assist and posted five shots on goal and three hits in addition to those four blocks.

Wrap

What a start to the series! It had the makings of a classic heading into it, and Game 1 may have exceeded those expectations.

That looked like an incredibly difficult hockey game to play in. Neither team had much space to operate. Both teams played with great defensive structure. Both teams had trouble consistently exiting their own zone with possession, and both teams had trouble setting up in the offensive zone. A lot of time was spent battling for pucks along the walls. We should expect more of the same throughout the series.

If there was any doubt about the Oilers having improved from last year’s series to this series, that should be put to rest. The Oilers weren’t overwhelmed by the moment. It wasn’t a perfect game, but they showed their character by finding a way to come back and win another game and by prevailing in yet another overtime game.

Expect another great game in Game 2 on Friday night.

Related: Oilers vs Panthers II: Stanley Cup Final preview