Florida Panthers-Edmonton Oilers Stanley Cup Final by the numbers

The Edmonton Oilers suddenly have the edge following a 4-3 overtime win over the defending champion Florida Panthers on Wednesday night in Game 1 of their rematch of last year’s Stanley Cup Final.

The series resumes Friday at Edmonton before shifting to Florida on Monday in a cross-continental showdown of the NHL’s last teams standing.

The Panthers are making their third straight Final appearance and seeking to become the second team this decade in winning consecutive titles after their Sunshine State rival Tampa Bay Lighting did so in 2020 and ’21. Meantime, Oilers captain Connor McDavid is looking to hoist the Cup for the first time in his dominant career.

Here’s a by the numbers look at the series entering Game 2:

The loss was Florida’s first in 32 playoff games under coach Paul Maurice in which the Panthers led at either the first or second intermission. Florida led 2-1 through the first period and 3-2 entering the third.

By clinching Game 1 with a power-play goal 19:29 into overtime, Leon Draisaitl scored his third overtime goal of the playoffs to tie a single-season postseason record. Oilers forward Corey Perry did so with Anaheim in 2017, while Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk score three OT goals in 2023.

This is the 11th rematch in the final in league history and the first since Pittsburgh and Detroit in 2009. Edmonton and the New York Islanders also had one in 1984. Each of those series saw the result flip from the previous year.

The other two rematches since the expansion era began in 1967 were Montreal sweeps of Boston in 1977 and ’78 and St. Louis in ’68 and ’69.

Draisaitl scored twice in reaching the career 50-goal plateau, which ranks sixth on the Oilers list and one behind Esa Tikkanen. Meantime, McDavid had two assists to give him 102 in the playoffs, tying Glenn Anderson for fourth on the franchise list.

Home teams are 52-10 when winning Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final. Overall, 65 of the past 80 teams to win Game 1 have gone on to win the title.

This marked the 98th Cup Final game to be decided in overtime, and first since Florida’s Carter Verhaeghe scored to seal a 3-2 win over the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 3 of the 2023 series. Vegas went on to win the Cup in five games.

The 2,543 miles (4,092 kilometers) between Sunrise, Florida, and Edmonton, Alberta, is — for the second year in a row — the longest distance between finalists in NHL history. It’s a roughly six-hour flight each way for the teams, which will be especially challenging going back to western Canada for Game 5 without an extra travel day after Game 4.

AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Edmonton Oilers' Leon Draisaitl (29) celebrates his game-winning goal against the Florida Panthers in the first overtime period in Game 1 of the NHL Stanley Cup final in Edmonton, Aberta, Wednesday, June 4, 2025. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP)

Florida Panthers' head coach Paul Maurice speak to media during a news conference, Tuesday, June 3, 2025, in Edmonton, Alberta, ahead of Game 1 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup final series against the Edmonton Oilers. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP)

Edmonton Oilers' Leon Draisaitl is mobbed by his teammates after scoring the winning goal against the Florida Panthers during the first overtime period in Game 1 of the NHL Stanley Cup Final, in Edmonton, on Wednesday, June 4, 2025. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)

DENVER (AP) — A Frontier Airlines plane hit and killed a pedestrian on the runway of the Denver International Airport during takeoff, airport authorities said, sparking an engine fire and forcing passengers to evacuate.

The plane, on route from Denver to Los Angeles International Airport, “reported striking a pedestrian during takeoff at DEN at approximately 11:19 p.m. on Friday," the airport's official X account wrote.

A spokesperson for the airport said the pedestrian, who jumped a perimeter fence, has died. They said the unidentified person was hit two minutes after entering the airport. The person is not believed to be an airport employee.

“We're stopping on the runway,” the pilot tells the control tower according to the site ATC.com. “We just hit somebody. We have an engine fire.”

The pilot tells the air traffic controller they have “231 souls” on board and that an “individual was walking across the runway.”

The air traffic controller responds that they are “rolling the trucks now" before the pilot tells the tower they “have smoke in the aircraft. We are going to evacuate on the runway.”

Frontier Airlines said in a statement flight 4345 was the one involved in the collision and that “smoke was reported in the cabin and the pilots aborted takeoff.” It was not clear whether the smoke was linked to the crash with the pedestrian.

“The Airbus A321 was carrying 224 passengers and seven crew members,” the airline said. “We are investigating this incident and gathering more information in coordination with the airport and other safety authorities.”

Passengers were then evacuated via slides and the emergency crew bused them to the terminal. The airport spokesperson said 12 passengers suffered minor injuries and five were taken to local hospitals.

Denver Airport said the National Transportation Safety Board had been notified and that runway 17L, where the incident took place, will remain closed while an investigation is conducted. It is expected to open later today.

The pedestrian death came a day after a Delta Air Lines employee was killed while on the job at the Orlando International Airport. In a statement, the airline said the employee was killed Thursday night without providing details of the incident nor the name of the employee.

“We are focused on extending our full support to family and taking care of our Orlando team during this difficult time,” the airline said. "We are working with local authorities as a full investigation gets underway to determine what occurred.”

FILE - A Frontier Airlines jetliner taxis down a runway for take off from Denver International airport on Nov. 25, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)