EDMONTON -- Mattias Ekholm made a major contribution for the Edmonton Oilers in his second game back from a serious injury.

The defenseman scored the tying goal in a 4-3 overtime win against the Florida Panthers in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final at Rogers Place on Wednesday to help put the Oilers ahead in the best-of-7 series.

Game 2 is here on Friday (8 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, TNT, truTV, MAX).

It was an impressive performance by Ekholm, who missed the first 15 games of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs with an undisclosed injury that put his entire postseason in jeopardy.

“Mattias is so important to our team, he’s a guy that’s on the power play, penalty kill -- that’s probably the biggest area that we missed him on the penalty kill -- but also just a steady defender, whether it’s pla

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