EDMONTON, Alberta — The Florida Panthers were in their comfort zone Wednesday — leading after two periods, ready to lock things down defensively. They’ve done it so many times during these Stanley Cup playoffs on their way to this point, a rematch with the Edmonton Oilers in the Stanley Cup Final.

The Oilers had other plans.

Mattias Ekholm tied the game 6:33 into the final frame on just Edmonton’s second shot of the period before Leon Draisaitl scored the game-winner on the power play with 31 seconds left in overtime to lead the Oilers to a 4-3 win over the Panthers in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final at Edmonton’s Rogers Place.

It’s the first time the Panthers have lost a postseason game over the past three years when they led after either the first or second period (they were up 2-1 after the first and 3-2 after the second). They were 31-0 in those situations entering Wednesday.

Game 2 is at 8 p.m. Friday from Edmonton.

Florida’s loss came after the Panthers had dug themselves out of an early hole with three goals — two from Sam Bennett, one from Brad Marchand — in a span of 11:11 spanning the end of the first period and the start of the second.

The Panthers were down 1-0 early when Draisaitl scored on a rebound just 66 seconds into regulation — the seventh-fastest goal to begin a Stanley Cup Final in NHL history.

Then the comeback was on.

It started with Bennett deflecting a Carter Verhaeghe shot past Stuart Skinner while being tripped into Skinner by Edmonton’s Brett Kulak to tie the game at 1-1 with 9:11 left in the opening frame.

The Oilers challenged for goaltender interference but the goal stood because Kulak initiated the contact with Bennett that led to Bennett falling into Skinner.

Florida scored on the ensuing power play from the failed Edmonton challenge, with Brad Marchand sending a wrist shot past Skinner to make it 2-1 Panthers with 7:30 left in the frame.

The first-period goals by Bennett and Marchand gave the Panthers 50 road goals in this year’s playoffs, breaking the NHL record of 49 set by the Los Angeles Kings in 1993.

Bennett then pushed Florida’s lead to 3-1 two minutes into the second period after taking a cross-ice feed from Nate Schmidt, moving the puck to his forehand and firing a snap shot from up close that beat Skinner.

With the multi-goal effort, Bennett now has 12 goals this postseason, a new franchise record for a single playoffs.

But the effort was for naught.

Edmonton cut its deficit back to one goal shortly afterward when Viktor Arvidsson took a drop pass from Vasily Podkolzin and fired a slap shot from just above the left circle that beat Sergei Bobrovsky.

And then Ekholm tied the game with 13:27 left in the third on a shot from the left circle before the Oilers sealed it in overtime.

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