Leon Draisatl scored in overtime to give the Edmonton Oilers a Game 4 victory and tie the Stanley Cup final series at two games apiece.
Florida Panthers forward Sam Reinhart scored with 19 seconds left in the third period to send the game to overtime, after the Oilers scored four straight in a stunning comeback.
Oilers defenceman Jake Walman ripped a one-timer past Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky to give the Oilers a 4-3 lead before the Panthers evened things up.
Thursday’s game was the third of the series to go to an extra period, with the Oilers winning Game 1 and the Panthers taking Game 2 in double OT. It also marks the 100th Stanley Cup final game to go to OT.
Goalies on both sides came up big in the third as the referees mostly put their whistles away for a tense period.
The Oilers scored three straight second-period goals to tie Game 4 Thursday, after bringing in backup goalie Calvin Pickard to replace Stuart Skinner, who let in three goals on 17 shots in the first, leaving the Panthers up 3-0.
But Edmonton was quick to capitalize on its first power play in the second frame, with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins — who’d been a question mark coming into the game due to an undisclosed injury — finding the back of the net to put his team on the board.
Darnell Nurse then brought the Oilers within one, ripping a wrist shot top shelf past Florida Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky with just over seven minutes left in the second period.
Two minutes later, winger Vasily Podkolzin scored on a backhand shot to tie the game.
The Panthers returned pressure toward the end of the period, with Pickard coming up big and defenceman Mattias Ekholm blocking a Tkachuk shot on an otherwise open net with just over a minute left.
Seconds later, Carter Verhaeghe hammered Edmonton defenceman Evan Bouchard into the boards from behind, sending him to the ice and giving Oilers fans a scare. The play was whistled down with no penalty call before Bouchard got back on his skates.
Game 4 got off to a quick start, with both teams getting chances early in the first period. But the Panthers quickly turned the tide, peppering Skinner who looked sharp early on, making at least one highlight-reel save.
And then, as in Game 3, players began the march to the penalty box.
Oilers winger Evander Kane took a high-sticking penalty, and defenceman Darnell Nurse was called on a trip halfway through the penalty kill.
The Panthers’ Matthew Tkachuk made the Oilers pay with a shot through traffic during the 5-on-3.
A high stick by Ekholm then led to a second Tkachuk powerplay goal with just over three minutes left in the period.
Anton Lundell added a third goal at even strength with less than a minute left in the first period on a setup from Carter Verhaeghe, who got away with high-sticking Oilers defender Troy Stecher on the play.
Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch shuffled the team’s lineup, bringing in Troy Stecher to replace John Klingberg on defence and Jeff Skinner to step in for Viktor Arvidsson up front.
Skinner got the start in goal, despite speculation that backup Pickard might draw in after Skinner allowed five goals on 23 shots Monday.
Knoblauch also changed up his forward line combinations, bumping Connor Brown up to the top line to play with Connor McDavid and Nugent-Hopkins.
