Leon Draisaitl's Goal Thrills NHL Fans as Oilers Beat Panthers in Stanley Cup Final G1

The Edmonton Oilers took Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final 4-3 in an overtime thriller on Wednesday.

After a back-and-forth game in regulation, a lengthy overtime period came down to the final minute. The Oilers had a power play with one last chance to avoid a second overtime, and Leon Draisaitl sealed the win.

After the win for Edmonton, Oilers fans hyped up Draisaitl for his heroics to give his squad a crucial 1-0 lead in what is sure to be a hard-fought series.

Game 1 had just about everything fans could have asked for.

Edmonton got on the board early as Draisaitl found the net just a minute into the game. The Panthers eventually responded in the first with a goal from Sam Bennett, and a failed Oilers challenge of the goal set up a power play for Florida that resulted in a goal from Brad Marchand just moments later.

Bennett scored another goal in the second period to make it 3-1, but Edmonton cut into the lead before the third period thanks to a goal from Viktor Arvidsson.

In the third period, Mattias Ekholm tied things up off an assist from Conor McDavid with just under 14 minutes to play.

Neither team regained the lead in regulation, setting up a battle in overtime. For the first half of overtime, Florida was in control and had several good looks, but Edmonton dominated the second half of the period, and the Oilers eventually won it on Draisaitl's goal.

Draisaitl will certainly walk away as the hero of Game 1, but goaltender Stuart Skinner also deserves plenty of credit after he made 29 saves and kept Florida from getting the game-winner in overtime.

The momentum is certainly in the hands of the Oilers at this point, but it wouldn't be surprising to see a few more close games and overtime thrillers moving forward in the series. Edmonton can at least say it started the series better than last year, when the Panthers won the first three games and eventually the Stanley Cup.

The two teams will now rest up after a tough Game 1 before staying in Edmonton for Game 2 on Friday.