Thursday, June 12, 2025

Oilers Overcome Panthers In Game 4

     The Edmonton Oilers came back from a three-goal margin and stopped the Florida Panthers 5-4 in overtime in Game 4 of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final at Amerant Bank Arena on Wednesday night. It was the third game of this series to reach overtime. 
     Leon Draisaitl set a single-postseason record with four overtime goals. He is the third player with multiple overtime goals in one Stanley Cup Final. 
     The best-of-seven series is tied at 2-2 with Game 5 will be held in Edmonton on Saturday night. The Panthers became the first team in a Stanley Cup Final contest not able to hold at least a three-goal lead after one period of play. The all-time record was 37-0 entering tonight. 
     The Cats have a 4-2 home record versus the Oilers in the past two Stanley Cup Finals. Florida has a 5-4 record at home during this year's postseason. 
     Florida jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a 5-on-3 power play at the 11:42 mark of the first period. Aleksander Barkov won a faceoff in the left circle. Matthew Tkachuk then snapped a shot from the inner left circle past Stuart Skinner for his first goal in the series. It turned out to also be the first point for Barkov in the series. 
     The Panthers increased their lead to 2-0 on another power-play goal with 3:04 to go in the first. Barkov angled a pass from the right wing and Tkachuk zipped a pass from the right goal line. Reinhart took a shot from the slot area which was saved. Tkachuk scored his second tally of the contest and seventh postseason goal on a wrist shot from the right side of the crease. 
     The Cats expanded it to a three-goal margin with 41.7 seconds remaining in the period. Sam Reinhart dumped the puck in from the red line. Carter Verhaeghe centered it the end wall and Anton Lundell scored on a wrist shot from the low slot for his sixth playoff goal. The Oilers pulled Skinner at the conclusion of the first period and replaced him with Calvin Pickard. 
     In the second period, Edmonton trailed 3-1 and they converted on the man advantage at 3:33. Connor McDavid pushed the puck from above the right circle and Draisaitl connected a cross-ice pass from the low right circle. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins got his sixth goal of the postseason with a snap shot from the inner left circle. 
     The Oilers cut the deficit to 3-2 with 7:13 left in the second. Adam Henrique sent a pass from the right circle and Mattias Ekholm angled a diagonal pass from the top of the zone. Darnell Nurse sailed a high snap shot from the low left circle by Sergei Bobrovsky for his third goal in the playoffs. 
     Edmonton tied it up 3-3 with 4:55 remaining in the frame. Draisaitl drew it back on a left-circle faceoff win. Nurse carried the puck from the left point to behind the Panthers cage. He centered it and Vasily Podkolzin backhanded a shot from the top of the crease for his second playoff tally. 
     The Oilers got their first lead of the game 4-3 with 6:24 to go in the third period. Nugent-Hopkins poked the puck on the left wing. Kasperi Kapanen slid it from the left circle and Jake Walman blasted a one-time slap shot from the right faceoff circle for his second goal of the playoffs. 
     The Panthers pulled Bobrovsky for an extra attacker with 2:26 remaining. Florida evened it up 4-4 with 19.5 seconds left in the third and forced overtime. Sam Bennett sent a square pass from the right circle and Reinhart tapped it up from the low left circle to Tkachuk. He made a return pass and Reinhart released a wrist shot from the left goal line by Pickard for his sixth goal in the playoffs. It was the second latest tying goal during the third period in Stanley Cup Final history. The latest was scored by Corey Perry in Game 2 of the series. 
     Edmonton was victorious 5-4 in overtime with 8:42 left. Ekholm sent a long lead pass from his own zone and Podzolkin relayed a diagonal cross-ice pass from outside of the Panthers blue line. Draisaitl backhanded a shot from the right circle off the right leg of Niko Mikkola and into the net for his 11th postseason goal and NHL record fourth overtime goal in the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs. He had the overtime goal for the Oilers in Game 1 earlier in the series. 

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