When the <a href="https://oilersnation.com/combinations">Edmonton Oilers</a> and Florida Panthers met in last year&#8217;s Stanley Cup Final, it was clear one team had been there before and one team hadn&#8217;t.

The Panthers capitalized on home ice advantage, beating the Oilers by a combined score of 7-1 in Games 1 and 2. It took until the third period of Game 3 for Edmonton to really arrive in the series. By the time they did, though, Florida was only one win away from the Stanley Cup.
The never-say-die Oilers won three games in a row while on the verge of elimination to force a winner-take-all Game 7 in Florida. The Panthers were able to halt Edmonton&#8217;s historic comeback effort with a 2-1 victory at home, and the Oilers learned the hard way that they need to have a better start.
That&#8217;s exactly what happened in <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/leon-draisaitl-scores-ot-winner-love-for-kasperi-kapanen-and-mattias-ekholm-a-monster-for-the-oilers">Game 1 of this year&#8217;s Cup Final rematch</a>. With home-ice advantage this time around, the Oilers edged out a 4-3 overtime victory against the Panthers, taking a 1-0 series lead in the Final for the first time since 1990.
<a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/overtime-goal-leon-draisaitl-edmonton-oilers-game-1-victory-over-florida-panthers">Leon Draisaitl</a> opened the scoring just over one minute into the first period, ensuring that Sergei Bobrovsky wouldn&#8217;t be able to open the series with a shutout like he did last year. The Panthers took a 3-1 lead in the second period, but Edmonton battled back and tied the score at 3-3 in the third.
With under a minute left in the first overtime frame, Connor McDavid found Leon Draisaitl alone in the slot, and the Rocket Richard Trophy winner buried a one-timer to complete the comeback victory. It was the ninth goal of the playoffs for Draisaitl and his third overtime winner this spring.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
LEON DRAISAITL WINS GAME 1 IN <a href="https://twitter.com/Energizer?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ENERGIZER</a> OVERTIME FOR THE EDMONTON OILERS‼️ <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/StanleyCup?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#StanleyCup</a> <a href="https://t.co/sFdPUR6WcP">pic.twitter.com/sFdPUR6WcP</a>
&mdash; NHL (@NHL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NHL/status/1930472705511301292?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 5, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<h2 class="mb-5 text-2xl font-bold">What they said…</h2>
<a href="https://x.com/EdmontonOilers/status/1930478375073919071">Stuart Skinner</a> on the excitement of winning a game in overtime&#8230;
<blockquote>&#8220;The emotions are high. You&#8217;re feeling really good. You&#8217;re obviously ecstatic to get that win, especially in overtime with a minute left, because it&#8217;s going to get harder. So the way we were able to finish in a timely manner was massive. You saw that in our faces when we celebrated.
As series go on and on, it&#8217;s a lot more of a grind. It&#8217;s a lot more board work, it&#8217;s a lot more pucks to the net, and especially when we&#8217;re going into overtime, there&#8217;s a lot of hockey that&#8217;s played and a lot of hockey to be played. Everyone gives you something different because they&#8217;re just a different team. But overall, we know how we need to play to be successful.&#8221;</blockquote>
<a href="https://x.com/EdmontonOilers/status/1930484469775135124">Leon Draisaitl</a> on scoring the game-winning goal in overtime&#8230;
<blockquote>&#8220;I&#8217;m standing over there watching this whole thing unfold, and I&#8217;m the beneficiary, but the work is done way before tha. It&#8217;s four terrific plays in a row – [Corey Perry] with a great play to [Connor McDavid], and then an amazing pass over to me. But lots of great plays on that play.
It&#8217;s tough to describe. You&#8217;re obviously locked in, and especially on the power play, you&#8217;re looking to finish it. Some incredible plays made it pretty easy for me to put that home. It&#8217;s a special feeling. It&#8217;s great for right now, but we&#8217;ve got to look ahead and get ready for Game 2.&#8221;</blockquote>
<a href="https://x.com/EdmontonOilers/status/1930480339950154203">Mattias Ekholm</a> on taking a 1-0 lead in the Stanley Cup Final&#8230; 
<blockquote>&#8220;I think we&#8217;re more experienced. Those are the little details that make you stay calm and not get too excited about something when you have a lot of work left to do. I&#8217;m happy with the way we played tonight and happy with the focus. I thought we never deviated from the plan, and obviously got a big OT win, but it&#8217;s about flushing this tomorrow and getting back to work.
I think we deserved to win tonight, but they&#8217;re going to flush it. They&#8217;re going to come back better for Game 2, so it doesn&#8217;t really matter. It&#8217;s one game. We&#8217;ll just have to keep focusing on the task ahead. We know we&#8217;ve got three more wins to go, and it&#8217;s going to be a battle.&#8221;</blockquote>
<a href="https://x.com/EdmontonOilers/status/1930492982597419441">Head coach Kris Knoblauch</a> on the maturity of the Oilers&#8230; 
<blockquote>&#8220;Numerous times we&#8217;ve been able to just stick with it. I saw that last year, the composure, us not getting rattled. Tonight, playing against a very good team, great defensively, don&#8217;t give up many opportunities to squander leads, and we&#8217;re pushing and pushing and finally we&#8217;re able to get that goal to tie it up. I think experience helped a little, last year being in the Final, but I think this is just a pretty mature team.&#8221;</blockquote>
<h2 class="mb-5 text-2xl font-bold">Up Next…</h2>
The Oilers will look to take a 2-0 series lead when they host the Panthers for Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final on <a href="https://oilersnation.com/schedule">Friday at 6 PM MT</a>.

When the <a href="https://oilersnation.com/combinations">Edmonton Oilers</a> and Florida Panthers met in last year's Stanley Cup Final, it was clear one team had been there before and one team hadn't.



The Panthers capitalized on home ice advantage, beating the Oilers by a combined score of 7-1 in Games 1 and 2. It took until the third period of Game 3 for Edmonton to really arrive in the series. By the time they did, though, Florida was only one win away from the Stanley Cup.

The never-say-die Oilers won three games in a row while on the verge of elimination to force a winner-take-all Game 7 in Florida. The Panthers were able to halt Edmonton's historic comeback effort with a 2-1 victory at home, and the Oilers learned the hard way that they need to have a better start.

That's exactly what happened in <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/leon-draisaitl-scores-ot-winner-love-for-kasperi-kapanen-and-mattias-ekholm-a-monster-for-the-oilers">Game 1 of this year's Cup Final rematch</a>. With home-ice advantage this time around, the Oilers edged out a 4-3 overtime victory against the Panthers, taking a 1-0 series lead in the Final for the first time since 1990.

<a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/overtime-goal-leon-draisaitl-edmonton-oilers-game-1-victory-over-florida-panthers">Leon Draisaitl</a> opened the scoring just over one minute into the first period, ensuring that Sergei Bobrovsky wouldn't be able to open the series with a shutout like he did last year. The Panthers took a 3-1 lead in the second period, but Edmonton battled back and tied the score at 3-3 in the third.

With under a minute left in the first overtime frame, Connor McDavid found Leon Draisaitl alone in the slot, and the Rocket Richard Trophy winner buried a one-timer to complete the comeback victory. It was the ninth goal of the playoffs for Draisaitl and his third overtime winner this spring.

https://twitter.com/NHL/status/1930472705511301292
<h2 class="mb-5 text-2xl font-bold">What they said…</h2>
<a href="https://x.com/EdmontonOilers/status/1930478375073919071">Stuart Skinner</a> on the excitement of winning a game in overtime...
<blockquote>"The emotions are high. You're feeling really good. You're obviously ecstatic to get that win, especially in overtime with a minute left, because it's going to get harder. So the way we were able to finish in a timely manner was massive. You saw that in our faces when we celebrated.

As series go on and on, it's a lot more of a grind. It's a lot more board work, it's a lot more pucks to the net, and especially when we're going into overtime, there's a lot of hockey that's played and a lot of hockey to be played. Everyone gives you something different because they're just a different team. But overall, we know how we need to play to be successful."</blockquote>
<a href="https://x.com/EdmontonOilers/status/1930484469775135124">Leon Draisaitl</a> on scoring the game-winning goal in overtime...
<blockquote>"I'm standing over there watching this whole thing unfold, and I'm the beneficiary, but the work is done way before tha. It's four terrific plays in a row – [Corey Perry] with a great play to [Connor McDavid], and then an amazing pass over to me. But lots of great plays on that play.

It's tough to describe. You're obviously locked in, and especially on the power play, you're looking to finish it. Some incredible plays made it pretty easy for me to put that home. It's a special feeling. It's great for right now, but we've got to look ahead and get ready for Game 2."</blockquote>
<a href="https://x.com/EdmontonOilers/status/1930480339950154203">Mattias Ekholm</a> on taking a 1-0 lead in the Stanley Cup Final... 
<blockquote>"I think we're more experienced. Those are the little details that make you stay calm and not get too excited about something when you have a lot of work left to do. I'm happy with the way we played tonight and happy with the focus. I thought we never deviated from the plan, and obviously got a big OT win, but it's about flushing this tomorrow and getting back to work.

I think we deserved to win tonight, but they're going to flush it. They're going to come back better for Game 2, so it doesn't really matter. It's one game. We'll just have to keep focusing on the task ahead. We know we've got three more wins to go, and it's going to be a battle."</blockquote>
<a href="https://x.com/EdmontonOilers/status/1930492982597419441">Head coach Kris Knoblauch</a> on the maturity of the Oilers... 
<blockquote>"Numerous times we've been able to just stick with it. I saw that last year, the composure, us not getting rattled. Tonight, playing against a very good team, great defensively, don't give up many opportunities to squander leads, and we're pushing and pushing and finally we're able to get that goal to tie it up. I think experience helped a little, last year being in the Final, but I think this is just a pretty mature team."</blockquote>
<h2 class="mb-5 text-2xl font-bold">Up Next…</h2>
The Oilers will look to take a 2-0 series lead when they host the Panthers for Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final on <a href="https://oilersnation.com/schedule">Friday at 6 PM MT</a>.

The Day After +17.0: Oilers flip the script on last year’s slow start to Stanley Cup Final

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