Sergey Bobrovsky beats Edmonton Oilers in Game 1 of Cup Final – Edmonton

Sergei Bobrovsky made 32 saves to help the Florida Panthers beat the Edmonton Oilers 3-0 in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final on Saturday night.

“They’re a very good offensive team,” Bobrovsky said afterward. “They presented a good challenge.”

“We created chances, we had chances offensively,” Oilers captain Connor McDavid said. “They just had bad luck around the goal.”

The Panthers scored on their first possession of the game, as Carter Verhaeger scored on a three-on-two at 3:59 into the game. The Oilers had several good scoring chances, leading Florida 12-4 in the first. Adam Enrique backhanded a shot on a fast break, but Bobrovsky blocked it with his left pad. Less than two minutes later, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored alone on a power play. Bobrovsky again managed to stop that attack.

Early in the second period, Sam Bennett won the game, sweeping the puck to Evan Rodrigues, who fired a shot over Stuart Skinner’s left shoulder to give the Panthers a 2-0 lead. The Oilers again tested Bobrovsky several times but were unable to break through. Mattias Janmark broke through once but was unable to force the puck under Bobrovsky.

“We really pushed hard,” Skinner said. “Bob’s physique is very strong.”

Eetu Luostarinen scored a goal into an empty net in the final seconds of the third period.

The Oilers were 2/2 on penalty kills and scored 30 straight times. They were 0/3 on the power play.

“I thought, overall, we played a pretty good game,” Oilers coach Chris Knoblauch said. “We had some chances to score, but we didn’t score. We knew Florida — probably — that game wasn’t their best game. The expectation was that they would be better the next game. I think they were probably caught off guard. You guys (the media) just talk about how good they are and we didn’t have a chance in this series.”

Skinner finished with 15 saves.

“Maybe the hockey gods let us go back to Game 6 (against Dallas), a game we probably didn’t deserve to win,” McDavid said. “We’ll be ready for a big game on Monday.”

The Panthers will host Game 2 on Monday (630 CHED, 4 p.m. kickoff show, game at 6 p.m.).

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