The Florida Panthers had game four of the Stanley Cup Finals won until they didn’t.
Calvin Pickard started in goal over Stuart Skinner and it looked like that move would blow up in their face. The Panthers dominated the Oilers in the first period, jumping out to an early 3-0 lead as the Oilers could not stay out of the penalty box. The Panthers would take advantage by scoring two power-play goals. It looked like an extension of game three where the Panthers dominated the Oilers in all aspects of the game.
Matthew Tkachuk scored for the Panthers at 11:49 of the first period on the power play to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead. Just over five minutes later, Tkachuk would score another power-play goal, his seventh of the playoffs, to put the Panthers up 2-0. Anton Lundell would finish the scoring for Florida by notching his sixth of the playoffs with under one minute to play in the period.
Leon Draisaitl admitted that the Oilers seemed to be going through the motions in the first period. “We wanted to come out strong tonight, but they put us on our heels early and we were kind of lollygagging around a little bit,” he said. “It’s certainly not the time to lollygag around, right, especially after getting spanked in Game 3. Corey spoke up. When he speaks up you listen and you do what he says. We did a great job of grabbing it, grabbing some momentum, and keeping it.”
As good as Florida was in the first period, things unraveled halfway through the second period as the Oilers scored three unanswered goals to tie the game at 3-3. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins got the scoring party started for Edmonton with his sixth of the playoffs just over three minutes into the period to make it a 3-1 game. Darnell Nurse scored his third goal of the playoffs at 12:47 of the second period to cut the Panthers’ lead to 3-2. Vasily Podkolzin would then score his second goal of the playoffs to tie the game.
It would stay 3-3 until the third period, when a Jake Welman goal would give the Oilers a 4-3 lead. With just under a minute to play, the Oilers felt good about their chances of stealing one in Sunrise. But, not so fast.
Sam Reinhart had other plans as he scored his fifth goal of the playoffs with 20 seconds left in the period to tie the game at 4-4.
Many thought the Oilers were done at this point. After battling back from a 3-0 deficit to tie the game 3-3, then take a 4-3 lead, it was demoralizing for this Oilers team to allow that tying goal so late in the game. The Panthers regained the momentum as both teams went to the locker room tied 4-4.
But this was not the Oilers team we saw on Tuesday night, as they went toe to toe with the Panthers until Leon Draisaitl scored his 11th goal of the playoffs in overtime to send the series back to Edmonton tied at 2-2.
Hockey can be a game of inches as Sam Bennett’s shot earlier in the third period was going in until Calvin Pickard got just enough of the puck to deflect it off the crossbar to keep it a 4-4 tie at the 15:48 mark of OT.
Draisaitl talked about his game-winning goal in the locker room after the 5-4 OT win. “It once again shows you or tells you that our group never quits. I think we believe that no matter how bad it is if we get over that hump of adversity we’re going to keep pushing, we’re going to keep coming, we’re going to keep coming and eventually it’ll break. You don’t want to be in these situations too many times, but when they happen, I think we’re great at it.”
With three of the four games going into overtime in the series, Panthers Coach Paul Maurice is like a kid at Christmas. “This is as good as this thing gets. This is Christmas.”
The Panthers have now put themselves in a position where they must win game five in Edmonton with a chance to close the series out at home next Tuesday.