Edmonton won the first final after sudden drama

NEW YORK. Edmonton leads the Stanley Cup Finals.

They won the opening drama of the night against Florida 4-3 – after a sudden death goal by Leon Draisaitl at the end of the first overtime period.

Less than two minutes remained in the first overtime period of the Stanley Cup Finals’ opening game at Rogers Place in Edmonton when Florida forward Tomas Nosek very unfortunately sent the puck over the plexiglas and was ejected for “delay of game”.

“Now it’s going to explode,” thought witnesses all over the world – and rightly so.

After a great passing game by Connor McDavid and Corey Perry, the puck ended up with German star Leon Draisaitl to the right of the visitors’ basket and he relentlessly scored the 4-3 goal with a direct shot.

Up until then, it had been a final match with many faces.

In the first period, the Oilers dominated, but the Panthers scored two goals – on just five shots.

Then it was the home team that barely got a puck off Sergej Bobrovsky in the middle act, but on one of the few occasions, Swede Viktor Arvidsson dusted off a smoking shot, thus reducing the score to 2–3.

In the third, the Oilers took over again in terms of play and when Mattias Ekholm, in only his second game since returning from his long-term injury, tied the game at 3-3, it felt only logical.

Match number two in the series will be played on Saturday night – and then the hero Draisaitl and his friends can take a real grip on the final series.

The text is updated.

The text is updated.