EDMONTON, Alberta — As the Edmonton Oilers celebrated their overtime win in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, Tomas Nosek made the long skate from the penalty box back to his locker room knowing that their power play was his fault.
“Yeah, it was tough for sure. You don’t want to be the one guy who costs us the game,” Nosek said Friday, speaking for the first time after his delay of game penalty in overtime led to Leon Draisaitl‘s game-winning goal.
“Obviously everybody can make a mistake. It happened at a bad time, in overtime, and cost us a game. But it’s in the past and I’m now looking forward to just keep doing my job and focusing on tonight’s game,” said Nosek, who will center the Panthers’ fourth line in Game 2 on Friday night.
Nosek sailed the puck over the glass at 18:17 of overtime to earn a delay of game penalty. Draisaitl ended the game at 19:29. Making a difficult moment worse, cameras caught Edmonton defenseman Jake Walman mocking Nosek on the way to the penalty box.
“No comments on that,” Nosek said.
Nosek, 32, is a 10-year NHL veteran who signed with Florida last summer as a free agent, the fifth team he’s played for in the league. He had 1 goal and 8 assists in 59 games in the regular season and 3 assists in 11 games in the playoffs. After Game 1, coach Paul Maurice said he expected the team will rally around Nosek.
“We’re not here without Tomas Nosek. It’s a tough break,” Maurice said. “So we’ll just make sure he doesn’t eat alone tonight. He’s got lots of people sitting at his table and reminding him how good he’s been to us.”
Panthers forward Jonah Gadjovich, Nosek’s linemate, one of the players who supported him.
“It happens. Tough bounce. But he does so many good things for us. No one’s mad at him, no one’s anything. It’s just stuff like that happens in a game and obviously we’ve regrouped yesterday and we’re ready to play tonight. It’s a new day, new game,” he said.
Nosek valued that encouragement from his teammates.
“They’ve been really helpful for sure. Most of the guys came to me and said, ‘Don’t worry about it,'” he said.
Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final is Friday night at 8 p.m. ET.
