Stuart Skinner was replaced again by Calvin Pickard to begin the second period.
Edmonton has joined the overtime winners club.
Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final had a variety of plot twists. The Oilers rallied from three goals down, took a one-goal lead, coughed up the lead to force overtime, and scored in the additional period to defeat the Florida Panthers 5-4.
This was the third time the two teams have gone into overtime in the series. With the win, the Oilers tied up the best-of-seven series at two games apiece. Now, both teams are two wins away from a championship.
Leon Draisaitl scored the overtime winner. It was his second OT goal of the series and his fourth of the postseason, an NHL record. Draisaitl finished the night with a goal and two assists in the comeback win, while Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Vasily Podkilzin each added a goal and an assist.
Calvin Pickard made 22 saves in relief of Stuart Skinner who made 14 saves for Edmonton.
Matthew Tkachuk scored twice for the Panthers, Anton Lundell lit the lamp, and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 30 shots for Florida.
First Period
Just under two minutes into the game, the Panthers nearly got on the board, but Skinner robbed Bennett on a lunging stop that caught him in the rib. It likely hurt a good bunch, but the most important thing is that he kept the puck out of the net.
Florida outshot Edmonton 10-2 through the first eight minutes. Mikkola ripped a wrister from the left circle that was gloved by Skinner.
10:38 into the frame, Evander Kane went back to a familiar spot — the penalty box. He high-sticked A.J. Greer in the helmet to give Florida their first power play of the night. Nurse whacked Barkov with his stick to give the Panthers a 5-on-3 power play. On the next play, Tkachuk fired one by Skinner to give his team a 1-0 lead.
Jake Walman was high-sticked in the face by Bennett with roughly six minutes to go in the period, but nothing was called. Edmonton, however, got dinged with 4:42 to go when Mattias Ekholm high-sticked Brad Marchand in the face. Tkachuk scored again on the man advantage to give the Panthers a 2-0 lead.
Lundell scored late in the first after Edmonton coughed up the puck in their own zone, which was partially caused by Verhaeghe committing high-sticking that again wasn’t called. He shoveled a pass to Lundell in front of the net, and the Panthers found themselves up three goals.
Second Period
The Oilers played a much more disciplined second period. But before the drop of the puck, coach Kris Knoblauch yanked Skinner for Calvin Pickard.
Bennett was called for slashing Evan Bouchard 3:24 into the period to give Edmonton their first power play of the evening. The Oilers got on the board when Leon Draisaitl found Nugent-Hopkins in the left circle and the veteran snapped a shot that went right over Bobrovsky’s helmet and just under the crossbar to make it a 3-1 game. Shortly thereafter, Edmonton received another chance on the man advantage when Dmitry Kulikov was whistled for holding Vasily Podkolzin’s stick.
The Oilers failed to convert on the power play, but it wasn’t from a lack of effort. Bouchard teed up a 93 mph. slap shot from the blue line that was stopped by Bobrovsky. Nugent-Hopkins tried to set up Corey Perry in front of the net to no avail, and the Panthers landed with some cross-checks that the refs failed to call.
Edmonton committed another awful turnover, but this time around, it didn’t lead to a goal. Lundell went on a breakaway but was turned away by Pickard. Nurse subsequently scored to make it a one-goal game and Florida gave the Oilers another power play when Barkov launched the puck into the crowd.
Podkolzin made it three unanswered goals for Edmonton to tie the game with 4:55 left in the period to tie the game. Nurse took the puck behind the net and dropped a pass in front of the net, and Podkolzin got his hands on it and whacked it by Bobrovky’s blocker via the backhand.
Late in the second, Verhaeghe boarded Bouchard and was not penalized. On the next play, Draisaitl was bonked after he whacked Gustav Forsling with an elbow.
Third Period
First, 7:34 into the period, Bennett was penalized for tripping up Driasaitl, but Edmonton failed to convert on the power play. Podkolzin one-timed a shot with 8:42 left in regulation, but Bobrovsky made a kick save that ended up in the Oilers’ possession once again. However, Bobrovsky made another save when Nurse fired a wrister from the right circle.
Walman gave Edmonton their first lead of the night with 6:24 remaining in regulation when he ripped a shot from the right circle by Bobrovsky. It all happened after Sam Reinhart coughed up the puck, and it ended up in the hands of Nugent-Hopkins, and he just left it for Walman, who wrecked the puck to give his team the one-goal advantage.
Florida had one trick left in the bag as they pulled Bobrovsky for the extra attacker with 2:26 left in the game. Panthers coach Paul Maurice called a timeout with 1:21 remaining. The move worked as Reinhart tied it up at four apiece with 19.5 seconds left off a feed from Tkachuk to send Game 4 into overtime.
Overtime
Sam Bennett nearly gave the Panthers to win, but his shot from the right circle ricocheted off Pickard’s glove and off the crossbar. Instead, Leon Draisaitl finished off the game off at 11:18 of a feed from Vasili Podkolzin to earn the 5-4 win and even the series at 2-2.
Next Game
Game 5 is Saturday night at Rogers Place in Edmonton. Puck drop is at 6 p.m. local time.