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 playing against other team’s top lines or contributing some offense and moving the puck out well,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said following the win. “He is such a smart hockey player and is hard to play against. He’s tough to get to the net against, tough to beat him, and very rarely makes mistakes. [Ekholm] is good at scoring goals and his offensive numbers would be much higher if we had him on the first-unit power play, but he’s not needed there.”
Ekholm returned from injury in Game 5 of the Western Conference Final against the Dallas Stars on May 29. It was his first game since making a brief appearance in a 4-2 win against the San Jose Sharks on April 11. Ekholm played three shifts against the Sharks before reaggravating the injury which kept him out of the lineup the previous seven games.
“He’s a huge piece of the team, he’s a top player for us,” Oilers defenseman Brett Kulak said. “He plays big minutes in all situations and can kind of do everything. We kind of saw that there, he scored a big goal for us. It’s a big boost for us to see him come back like that, and he’s feeling good.”
Ekholm was back in a familiar role with the Oilers Wednesday after being eased into the lineup against the Stars, playing 15:52 to help close out the conference final. The 35-year-old played 25:19 alongside Evan Bouchard on Edmonton’s top defensive pairing and took a regular shift on the penalty kill.
“He was moving the puck fantastic tonight; smart plays, especially when we were getting hemmed in there,” Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner said. “He’s a smart player and a huge part of our defensive core.”
Ekholm scored on a shot from the slot off a centering pass from Connor McDavid to tie the game 3-3 at 6:33 of the third period. It was his first goal since scoring in a 7-1 win against the Utah Hockey Club on March 18.
“It was nice play by [Kasperi Kapanen] there to get the puck back to Connor and when he comes low, guys usually tend to keep their eyes on him and so you just try to sneak down on the back side,” Ekholm said. “I don’t know if he sees me or not, but he made a great pass, he puts it on a platter for me and it’s one of those I have to score.”