Florida Supports Player After a Costly Gaffe

The first game of what is expected to be a great Stanley Cup finals is in the books, with the Edmonton Oilers beating the Florida Panthers 4-3 in overtime Wednesday night, reports NHL.com. Much of the talk on Thursday is about how the Oilers got the winning goal—and how the Panthers are trying to make sure teammate Tomas Nosek doesn't feel like a goat.

• Late in OT, Nosek made a mistake that had Florida fans slapping their foreheads: He inadvertently put the puck over the boards from his own zone, resulting in an automatic delay-of-game penalty. The Oilers' Leon Draisaitl scored on the ensuing power play.
• Florida coach Paul Maurice said he had one mission after the game in regard to Nosek: "Make sure he doesn't eat alone tonight, that he's got a lot of people sitting at his table reminding him of how good he's been to us," he said, per USA Today.

• Teammates were echoing the sentiment. "That stuff happens in the game of hockey," said Brad Marchand. "It's a bad break. He's been a great player for us all year, all playoffs."
• Highlights of the game are here, with the penalty around the 9:15 mark.
• Game 2 is Friday, per ESPN. This series is a rematch of last year's finals, which was won by Florida.

(More NHL stories.)