Blown save: Panthers' 3-year run as NHL's best closers comes to an end in Game 1

New York Times

a day ago

EDMONTON — There's no lonelier place to be than a penalty box in overtime, but especially when the power play you put on the ice includes Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
Since 2016-17, Draisaitl has been the NHL's overtime king with 19 in the regular season. But in these playoffs, he's been virtually automatic.
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So Wednesday night, when Tomas Nosek was pressured by Vasily Podkolzin and airmailed a puck into the stands for a delay-of-game penalty, the first-year Panther and one of five skaters in Florida's lineup that didn't win a Stanley Cup with the reigning champs last year had to be sick.
'It's a tough break,' Panthers coach Paul Maurice said after McDavid connected with Draisaitl for his third overtime goal of the playoffs and a 4-3 Oilers win in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final. 'So we'll just make sure he doesn't eat alone tonight. He's got lots of people sitting at his table and reminding him how good he's been. It's going to be tough. He's going to eat that one for a day.'
Bobrovsky denies Bouchard and then moments later the Oilers head to a power play late in OT 👀 pic.twitter.com/qxIk8TY44B
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) June 5, 2025
Maurice said the Panthers will remind Nosek that they're not here in the Stanley Cup Final if not for his terrific play at even-strength on the fourth line and on the penalty kill in the second round against Toronto.
'We'll remind him of that a whole bunch of times before the puck drops (for Game 2 Friday night),' Maurice said.
And the reality is, even though Nosek may have committed the penalty that resulted in Draisaitl's winner, the Panthers lost because they atypically didn't close out a game they at one point led by two goals.
The Panthers have been the best closers in playoff hockey under Maurice.
Since he took over in 2022-23, the Panthers were 31-0 in the playoffs when leading after the first or second period and 29-0 when leading after two. Yet less than two minutes after Sam Bennett scored his second goal of the game and league-leading and franchise-record 12th goal of the playoffs, one bad shift led to Edmonton's fourth line striking with a Viktor Arvidsson goal 77 seconds later.
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Mattias Ekholm, in only his second playoff game after a lower-body injury, forced overtime in a third period where the Oilers had a 14-2 edge on shots.
'They just pushed,' said Brad Marchand, who gave the Panthers a 2-1 lead with his eighth career Stanley Cup Final goal. 'A couple pucks we didn't really get deep. Gotta be a little bit better making plays under pressure, getting our legs going a little bit more. We got caught just kind of flipping pucks, and they'd regroup and come back at us. So, a little cleaner there.'
Maurice felt the Panthers played too safe with the puck. And as Maurice has been repeating since the Panthers dispatched Carolina in five games for their third straight Prince of Wales Trophy, both the Oilers and Panthers are better than a year ago when they met in the final round.
The Oilers showed that Wednesday night.
Yes, Draisaitl scored the first and last goals and McDavid assisted on the tying and winning goals. But it was the Oilers' depth that was truly impressive.
Kasperi Kapanen had two assists and five hits. Arvidsson, during a great night from Edmonton's fourth line, had the big answer to trigger the multi-goal comeback. Podkolzin had an assist and was a menace in overtime, pressuring Nosek into the big gaffe but also pressuring Aaron Ekblad earlier in overtime into one of a number Panthers' icings that turned the tide from a strong start to the period by Florida. And defensemen like John Klingberg, Jake Walman and Brett Kulak continued their solid playoffs.
'It takes everyone,' McDavid said. 'How many times are we going to say that? It takes everybody, obviously. I thought that whole (Mattias) Janmark line was dangerous all night. I thought they were a big difference-maker, and in overtime, I thought they were the only line that was generating.
'We've got lots of players who are playing well at the right time. All good stuff.'
Oilers are 5-0-0 at home this season when Viktor Arvidsson scores pic.twitter.com/ndjtzOWCYf
— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) June 5, 2025
There's no doubt Wednesday's game could have gone either way. Both teams went toe-to-toe in the type of high-octane style that could make this series a long one and certainly a classic.
'There isn't any casualness and there's no BS in either team's game,' Maurice said. 'The pucks go deep that are supposed to go deep. I think we had one all night we didn't like, maybe two all night that we didn't like our decision of the line. They didn't fool around with it, either. It was honest, it was hard, it was fast and it was tight.'
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But after dropping the first three games to Florida last year before rallying to force a Game 7, the Oilers showed how motivated they are to not watch the Panthers celebrate winning a championship against them a second time.
'It's always a little bit of an adjustment between the series with how the other team plays even though you go through the pre-scout,' said third-line winger Eetu Luostarinen. 'The game is a little bit different, so it takes a little bit of time and today we were one goal less.'
And the Panthers usually find a way to adjust, get better and learn from their mistakes.
Asked what the Panthers learned in Game 1, Bennett said simply, 'I think just not let up. Don't sit back. We've been really good all year at not sitting back with the lead. And for whatever reason, we sat back a little bit.
'It's gonna be a long series. I don't think we expected this to be easy. So you can learn some things from tonight, and then we're just gonna move on.'
Added Marchand: 'It's one game. You can't get stuck in the past here. So we'll regroup, refocus and get ready for the next one.'