SUNRISE – Game 4 of the Stanley Cup final was like weather in the Midwest: if you didn’t like how it was going, you just had to wait a few minutes.
The Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers took turns controlling the play, and in the end, it was Leon Draisaitl being the overtime hero yet again and Edmonton tying the series with an incredible 5-4 comeback overtime victory.
Connor McDavid came out flying on the opening shift, but Florida managed to get out without taking any damage. From then on, it was all Panthers in the first.
Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner was under siege early and made some big stops, including a massive sprawling save on Sam Bennett. Edmonton did take away the middle of the ice pretty effectively, and with the way Skinner was playing, his ‘Mr. Game 4’ reputation seemed to be intact.
Midway through the frame, however, Evander Kane took a high-sticking penalty and one minute later, Darnell Nurse was given the gate for tripping Aleksander Barkov. That gave Florida a 5-on-3 power play and Matthew Tkachuk made no mistake, cashing in on a low wrister after a faceoff win by Barkov.
On the other side of the rink, Sergei Bobrovsky wasn’t busy, though he did make a tough stop on an Evan Bouchard blast from the point. Soon after, Mattias Ekholm took a high-sticking penalty on Brad Marchand and once again, Florida went to the power play.
On a somewhat broken play, Tkachuk got his second of the night, picking up a Sam Reinhart rebound at the side of the net and flipping it over Skinner. Things went from bad to worse for Edmonton at the end of the period when Carter Verhaeghe stole the puck from Troy Stecher behind the net, centering the puck for Anton Lundell, who popped one in for a 3-0 Cats lead. The period ended with Florida dominating in shots 17-7 and, truly, in overall game play.
There was drama to begin the second period, as Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch replaced Skinner with Calvin Pickard. The gambit apparently worked though, as Edmonton threw the game off its axis.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins got the party going on the power play, snapping a wrister past Bobrovsky almost immediately. Dmitry Kulikov later took a holding-the-stick penalty and though the Cats survived that kill, the Oilers were clearly beginning to roll.
A surprise snipe from defenseman Darnell Nurse made it 3-2, with the big blueliner going high blocker side on Bobrovsky. After McDavid nearly tied it on a gonzo rush, Vasily Podkolzin came through with a backhand off a centering pass from Nurse. All of a sudden, a game that seemed over early was tied.
Florida nearly retook the lead late, but Mattias Ekholm blocked a Tkachuk shot that was headed for a yawning cage. After two periods, the shots were nearly even.
The Cats carried a power play into the third thanks to a late Draisaitl elbow on Gustav Forsling, but Pickard was up to the task, making a massive toe-save on Barkov. He followed that up with a couple of big stops on Evan Rodrigues and Eetu Luostarinen at even strength.
Bobrovsky, not to be outdone, made a huge save on Corey Perry during an Edmonton power play.
The tides turned again when Jake Walman stepped into a slap shot at the faceoff dot and blasted one past Bobrovsky for Edmonton’s first lead of the game with a little more than six minutes to play.
With Bobrovsky pulled for the extra attacker, Reinhart found a loose puck and buried the tying goal with 20 seconds remaining.
In overtime, the teams were sharp and the goaltenders had to be too. Bobrovsky survived a scramble early, while Pickard made some 10-bell saves – once with the help of his posts.
In the end, it was Draisaitl playing the winner off Niko Mikkola’s leg with 8:42 remaining in the extra frame to secure an improbable win for Edmonton.
After Game 5 in Edmonton on Saturday, one of these teams will be won away from winning the Stanley Cup.
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