EDMONTON, Alberta — When the Stanley Cup was brought out onto the ice prior to Game 1 of the NHL’s best-of-seven title series Wednesday night, just as it was last year, everything the Edmonton Oilers expressed about this time being different came into focus.
“Last year, I was kind of looking at it with googly eyes,” Edmonton goaltender Stuart Skinner said. “This year seeing it, it’s (like) ‘I was here last year, I saw it. It’s time to get back to work and do my thing.’ It definitely felt completely different.”
The Oilers made the start of the Stanley Cup Final completely different, too, erasing a multigoal deficit to beat the reigning champion Florida Panthers 4-3 on Leon Draisaitl’s power-play goal in overtime. A year since falling behind three games to none, Edmonton has a lead in the rematch and is one step closer to flipping the script.
“It’s huge,” said Skinner, who made some big stops among his 29 saves. “The way that we showed up right from the get-go and the way that we continued to keep on going, even though we were down by two, that shows a lot of character by us.”
Draisaitl provided the heroics, scoring on the power play with 31 seconds left in the extra period after Tomas Nosek’s penalty for putting the puck over the glass. The goal was his third in overtime this year in the playoffs, tying the record for a single postseason, after Draisaitl had six during the regular season.