Leon Draisaitl Plays Hero Again for the Edmonton Oilers

Draisaitl took center stage in Game 4 of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final as he played the role of hero once again. For the second time in this series, he scored the game-winning overtime goal to even the series at 2-2 as the Oilers defeated the Florida Panthers 5-4 in overtime after trailing 3-0 after the first period.

With the Oilers playing like their season was in the balance, Leon Draisaitl backed up his words after a challenging Game 3 loss on Monday night. When this team needs a goal, there is 29 delivering again in the most significant moments for his teammates.

“Yeah, it’s incredible. I mean, he’s a horse out there for us,” Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said. “And just always, I mean, like you’re seeing, it’s, it’s just constant, consistent. We always can lean on him, and he always finds a way to get those big ones.”

Draisaitl’s overtime winner in Game 4 was his fourth overtime winner of the playoffs, which is not only an NHL record but also an Edmonton Oilers franchise record. Not to mention, he had not scored an OVERTIME GOAL in the Stanley Cup Playoffs until this year. He also joins Maurice Richard (3), Don Raleigh (2), Jacques Lemaire (2), and John LeClair (2) to score multiple overtime goals in a Stanley Cup Final. Draisaitl had the game-winning overtime goal in Game 1.

But like Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl thrives under the pressure of the bright lights. Nothing fazes him, from playing in a Canadian city to stepping onto the ice during the Stanley Cup Final, Draisaitl’s demeanour is always the same. However, when he needs to say something, his teammates will listen.

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Some guys talk the talk, but can never walk the walk. However, Draisaitl is different; he backs up his words with his play on the ice. And when the Oilers need a goal, there he is, coming up with another huge goal as he has done all season for his teammates.

“Yeah, he’s been great,” McDavid told Kathryn Tappen of NHL Network following the Game 4 victory. “He wants to be the difference. We all do. And he just, time and time again, steps up at the biggest moment, or the big one tonight.”

Draisaitl, who finished second to Connor Hellebuyck in Hart Trophy voting as League MVP, has reached the 30-point plateau in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, becoming the fifth player in NHL to record 30 points in consecutive postseasons. Through 20 games with the Oilers in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Draisaitl has 32 points (11 goals and 21 assists), which is tied for the most points in the NHL in the playoffs alongside McDavid.

It is the third time in his career that Draisaitl has hit the 30-point mark in the postseason. He is in pretty good company for players to hit the hat mark in three or more postseasons. Gretzky did it six times, McDavid did it three times, and Mark Messier did it three times.

And Edmonton needed every point in Game 4 from Leon Draisaitl as the Oilers had to rally from a 3-0 first-period deficit to win 5-4 in overtime. Once again, the Oilers are showing their ability to bounce back in games after poor starts. This was not the type of start they had wanted, but once again, one of the team’s leaders stepped up to the challenge.

While Corey Perry will take credit for igniting the team with his first period speech, and Calvin Pickard will earn the W between the pipes as he replaced Stuart Skinner, because the guys in front of him let him down, it was Draisaitl and McDavid, who got things turned around with a much needed power play goal.

Both players assisted on Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ second-period goal to open the scoring, and the Oilers got life from that goal. They also got life from Pickard’s save on Anton Lundell moments later. However, Edmonton was able to score two more goals in the second period, tying the game at 3-3. One goal came from the stick of Darnell Nurse, who also had a big game, and Vasily Podkolzin, as Draisaitl won an offensive zone faceoff and a board battle as the puck came to the slot for the Oilers to tie the game.

Jake Walman was able to give the Oilers a 4-3 lead midway through the third period. Pickard continued to make timely saves, but Sam Reinhart scored with 19.5 seconds left in the third period to tie the game up. It was the 100th overtime in Stanley Cup Final history.

Was Pickard perfect in Game 4? No, he was not, but he came up with the big saves when his team needed them, especially in overtime on Sam Bennett. Florida took it to Edmonton in the overtime session, but the Oilers used their ability to break the puck out of the zone to catch the Panthers on a change.

Mattias Ekholm catches the Panthers on a line change and gets the puck to Podkolzin, who then gets it to Draisaitl for the goal. From the video, you can see that Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky was playing the pass and was caught out of position as Draisaitl’s pass to Corey Perry went off Panthers defenseman Niko Mikkola and into the back of the net.

Speaking of Ekholm, he had a series-changing block in Period 2 when Matthew Tkachuk, who already had two goals, was looking for the hat trick, took one right in the knee to save the Oilers season as Pickard was out of his crease with Tkachuk looking at an open net. If the Panthers score there, it will be another late-period goal the Oilers give up, and maybe they won’t come back.

But that is who the Edmonton Oilers are. They keep coming back, and while Draisaitl was the hero, the depth continued to carry the way for Edmonton. They are the first team in NHL history to win a Stanley Cup Final game after trailing 3-0 after the first period.

Additionally, the Oilers are the second team to rally from a 3-0 deficit in a Stanley Cup Final, following the Montreal Canadiens in 1919 against the Seattle Metropolitans. It was their eighth comeback of the playoffs.

Leon Draisaitl’s goal could well be a season-defining goal for the Oilers if Edmonton finds a way to win two more games to hoist the Stanley Cup.