EDMONTON, Alberta — Leon Draisaitl scored on the facility play in additional time, Stuart Skinner made 29 saves and the Edmonton Oilers erased a multigoal deficit to beat the defending champion Florida Panthers 4-3 in Recreation 1 of the Stanley Cup Ultimate rematch on Wednesday evening.
After Tomas Nosek’s penalty for placing the puck over the glass, Draisaitl’s objective 19:29 into OT despatched the house followers right into a frenzy and made positive the Oilers wouldn’t begin this sequence like they did a 12 months in the past, after they fell behind three video games to none.
For some time, it seemed like they’d at the least begin out trailing. Draisaitl’s objective 66 seconds in was adopted later within the first interval by Sam Bennett deflecting a shot in previous Stuart Skinner after falling into him.
Edmonton’s Kris Knoblauch unsuccessfully challenged for goaltender interference, with the NHL’s scenario room ruling that his personal participant, Jake Walman, tripped Bennett into Skinner. The ensuing penalty paved the best way for Florida’s Brad Marchand to attain the go-ahead objective on the facility play.
Bennett scoring his second of the evening early within the second interval put the Panthers up 3-1. They entered 31-0 over the previous three playoffs since coach Paul Maurice took over when main on the first or second intermission.
With Connor McDavid main the best way, the Oilers rallied. Fourth-liner Viktor Arvidsson introduced the group again to life early within the second, and fellow Swede Mattias Ekholm — enjoying simply his second recreation again from an prolonged damage absence — tied it with 13:27 remaining in regulation off an ideal cross from McDavid.
On the different finish, Skinner made a handful of saves that have been important to protecting the Panthers from extending their lead or tying it late within the third. Florida counterpart Sergei Bobrovsky did the identical, in between derisive chants of “Sergei! Sergei!” that adopted targets he allowed.
Skinner was greeted with friendlier chants of “Stuuuu” after saves, together with one within the first minute of additional time on a top quality scoring probability. Bobrovsky stone-cold robbed Trent Frederic 9 minutes in however finally cracked.
Recreation 2 is Friday evening in Edmonton earlier than the sequence shifts to Dawn, Florida for Video games 3 and 4.