Oilers Erase Panthers’ 3-Goal Lead, Win Game 4 5-4 in OT to Tie Stanley Cup Final

At the midway point of the first period, shot totals heavily favored Florida, 10-2. The Panthers had their first opportunity with the man advantage a bit past the halfway mark of the first period; Darnell Nurse tripped Aleksander Barkov about halfway through the power play, giving the Panthers a two-man advantage for a minute or so. Seconds into the two-man power play, Matthew Tkachuk found the back of the net, breaking the scoreless tie and bringing the Panthers’ lead to 1-0. Not to be outdone, Tkachuk found the net once again minutes later, stretching the Panthers’ lead to 2-0. Furthering the Panthers’ offensive onslaught, Anton Lundell scored the Panthers’ third goal of the evening with less than a minute remaining in the first period.

Second Period

Calvin Pickard replaced Stuart Skinner in net to start the second period. Roughly four minutes in, the Oilers struck back and staunched the bleeding a bit, cutting the Panthers’ lead to 3-1 courtesy of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. The Oilers also found themselves with the man advantage twice in the first half of the second period, but didn’t convert on either opportunity. The second period saw the Oilers come back to life a bit, and the Panthers step back a bit; shot totals still favored the Panthers 19-17 with 8:45 to go in the second period, but this was a stark contrast from both teams’ first-period performances.

The Oilers struck again with roughly seven minutes to go in the second period, this time courtesy of Darnell Nurse. Immediately after the goal, Barkov shot the puck over the glass and received a delay of game penalty, giving the Oilers yet another opportunity with the man advantage. The Oilers’ efforts to erase the Panthers’ three-goal lead were successful after Vasily Podkolzin beat Bobrovsky to tie the game up with roughly five minutes remaining in the second period. The period ended with the teams tied at 3-3; shot totals continued to favor the Panthers, 27-24.

Third Period

The Panthers had several incredibly solid scoring chances in the opening minutes of the final frame, but Pickard stood tall through all of them. With about 13 minutes remaining in the game, the Oilers were awarded a power play after Sam Bennett tripped Leon Draisaitl, but they would again fail to convert with the extra man due in no small part to Bobrovsky’s penalty-killing heroics. Much of the middle of the third period was marked by the same back-and-forth hockey that has been the hallmark of two of the three previous games in this series. That swiftly changed with just over six minutes left in the game; Oilers’ defenseman Jake Walman blasted a one-timer home past Bobrovsky, giving the Oilers the lead for the first time in Game 4.

Hoping to tie the game, the Panthers pulled Bobrovsky for the extra man with a little more than two minutes remaining. From then on, the vast majority of play was dominated by the Panthers’ offensive corps. With just 19.5 seconds remaining in the game, Panthers legend Sam Reinhart tied it in dramatic fashion, beating Pickard on his blocker side and sending the game into overtime tied 4-4.

Overtime

Overtime started much the way that the third period went: lots of back-and-forth hockey on behalf of both teams. The Oilers had a tremendously close chance to win the game around two minutes into the overtime period; the puck bounced through a bevy of humanity in Bobrovsky’s crease, bounced off the post back out into traffic, and ultimately came to rest underneath him just outside the crease.

The Panthers had several incredible chances in the first ten minutes of the overtime period, but none better than a shot from Bennett that glanced off of Pickard’s glove, then the crossbar and ultimately landed back out behind the net. Minutes after this gem of a missed chance, Leon Draisaitl scored the game-winning goal in overtime yet again, sending the Oilers back to Edmonton with the Stanley Cup Final tied at 2-2.