The Florida Panthers can’t be feeling too good after they let Game 1 of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final slip away from them against the Edmonton Oilers in their rematch of last year’s Cup Final series.
The Panthers failed to protect their 3-1 lead, eventually losing by a 4-3 final score in overtime thanks to Leon Draisaitl’s second goal of the night. His goal was made possible thanks to a careless delay-of-game penalty late in the first overtime by Panthers forward Tomas Nosek, who could only watch helplessly from the penalty box as the Oilers seized victory soon afterward.
The Panthers got a pair of goals from Sam Bennett along with a tally from Brad Marchand, and while they appeared to have things in control, they let the Oilers back into the game.
The Panthers Know It Will Be A Long Series
After scoring twice as part of the 4-3 overtime loss, Bennett acknowledged that nobody on the Panthers thought their rematch against the Oilers would be easy.
“It’s going to be a long series,” Bennett said. “I don’t think we expected this to be easy. You can learn some things from tonight, and then we’re just going to move on.”
“It was a one-goal game, a tight game. It could’ve went either way. They had a good push in the third.”
Bennett also felt that the second period was their best of the night.
“That was our best period,” Bennett said. “I thought we were on the forecheck well that period, creating turnovers.”
The Panthers built a 3-1 lead before the Oilers fought back into the game, tying things up in the third period before depositing the game-winning goal in overtime. During that stretch, they out-shot the Panthers by a 14-2 margin in the third period alone.
“They pushed,” Marchand said. “They’re obviously a very good team. It doesn’t take much for them to score. I’m not surprised they had the push they did. They’re a great team.”
Meanwhile, Panthers coach Paul Maurice called out his team for their failure to compete on several select plays during the game.
“These games are tight,” Maurice said. “I don’t think you have domination in the third period of tight games. We were in pretty good shape at 3-1. I think we got some real good pressure, and they get it back. There were some plays we didn’t complete.”
Game 2 between the Panthers and Oilers is scheduled for Friday night before the series shifts to Florida for Games 3 and 4.
