Stanley Cup Final: Draisaitl plays hero as Oilers beat Panthers in overtime

EDMONTON Alberta Leon Draisaitl scored on the power play in overtime Stuart Skinner made saves and the Edmonton Oilers erased a multigoal deficit to beat the defending champion Florida Panthers - in Battle of the Stanley Cup Final rematch on Wednesday night After Tomas Nosek s penalty for putting the puck over the glass Draisaitl s goal into OT sent the home fans into a frenzy and made sure the Oilers would not start this series like they did a year ago when they fell behind three games to none For a while it looked like they would at least start out trailing Draisaitl s goal seconds in was followed later in the first period by Sam Bennett deflecting a shot in past Skinner after falling into him Edmonton s Kris Knoblauch unsuccessfully challenged for goaltender interference with the NHL s situation room ruling that his own competitor Jake Walman tripped Bennett into Skinner The resulting penalty paved the way for Florida s Brad Marchand to points the go-ahead goal on the power play Bennett scoring his second of the night early in the second period put the Panthers up - They entered - over the past three playoffs since coach Paul Maurice took over when leading at the first or second intermission With Connor McDavid leading the way the Oilers rallied Fourth-liner Viktor Arvidsson brought the crowd back to life early in the second and fellow Swede Mattias Ekholm playing just his second match back from an extended injury absence tied it with remaining in regulation off a perfect pass from McDavid At the other end Skinner made a handful of saves that were vital to keeping the Panthers from extending their lead or tying it late in the third Florida counterpart Sergei Bobrovsky did the same in between derisive chants of Sergei Sergei that followed goals he allowed Skinner was greeted with friendlier chants of Stuuuu after saves including one in the first minute of overtime on a quality scoring chance Bobrovsky stone-cold robbed Trent Frederic nine minutes in but eventually cracked Competition is scheduled for Friday night in Edmonton before the series shifts to Sunrise Florida for Games and