It may not be how it was drawn up, but the
Edmonton Oilers got an important win.
On Thursday evening, the Oilers played a pivotal
Game 4 against the Florida Panthers, featuring heartbreak and a third overtime this series. It was the Oilers that came out on top, tying the series at two thanks to a 5-4 comeback win. Let’s take a look at what happened in this one.
For the third consecutive game, the Panthers scored the first goal. This came with just under eight and a half minutes left in the first period on a Panthers’ five-on-three, as Matthew Tkachuk had way too much time to pick his spot on Stuart Skinner.
With three minutes left in the first period, the Panthers had another power play. Sam Reinhart was left all alone in the slot, and Skinner couldn’t control the rebound. It popped out to Tkachuk, who scored his second goal of the game for a 2-0 lead.
In the final minute of the first period,
Troy Stecher lost the puck behind the net and was high-sticked. Left all alone in front of the net was Anton Lundell, who beat Skinner to give the Panthers a 3-0 lead heading into the first intermission.
Head coach Kris Knoblauch elected to start
Calvin Pickard for the second period, and that seemed to wake the Oilers up. After Evan Bouchard was slashed on a breakaway to give the Oilers their first power play, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins sniped it past Sergei Bobrovsky up high just three and a half minutes into the second period.
That goal gave the Oilers all the momentum. With just over seven minutes left in the second, Darnell Nurse took the puck down low, electing to shoot and beating Bobrovsky over the shoulder from a tough angle to get the Oilers within one.
Two minutes later, the Oilers won a faceoff in the offensive zone after a television timeout. Nurse once again took it down low, but this time decided to circle the net and throw it out front. First on the puck was Vasily Podkolzin, who chopped it past Bobrovsky to tie the game up at three.
With six and a half minutes left in the final frame, the Oilers’ forecheck caused a turnover. In the slot, Kasperi Kapanen elected to be patient, waiting until
Jake Walman was in a spot to shoot, with the defenceman’s one-timer beating Bobrovsky for the 4-3 lead.
The Oilers faced heartbreak in the final minute. With just 19.5 seconds left, Reinhart scored the game-tying goal, prolonging the Oilers’ win. This was the second-latest tying goal in Stanley Cup Final history, about a second before the Oilers’ game-tying goal in Game 2.
Midway through the first overtime, the Oilers found a way to win, as Vasily Podkolzin one-touched a pass across the ice at the blue line. Getting it was
Leon Draisaitl, who tried to shovel a pass to Corey Perry on the two-on-one, but it bounced off Niko Mikkola’s skate and into the back of the net. Oilers win.
Takeaways…
This was a pivotal win for the Oilers. Instead of facing a 3-1 series deficit, they return to Alberta to make it a best-of-three, wrangling home-ice advantage back from the Kitties. Leon Draisaitl scored his fourth overtime goal this postseason, a new record. He also has two Stanley Cup Final overtime goals.
One well-known stat coming into this game was that Stuart Skinner was 6-0 in seven Game 7s. The one time he didn’t get a win was in the first round of the 2023 postseason against the Los Angeles Kings. In that game, he also allowed three first period goals and was pulled, with the Oilers overcoming that three-goal deficit to storm back and win 5-4 in overtime. The Oilers then went on to win the next two after splitting the first four with the Kings.
It wasn’t a bad start for Skinner either. Despite allowing three goals in the first period, it’s hard to fault him on any except for maybe the second one. The Oilers also had a lethargic first period, being outshot 17-10, giving Skinner an .824 save percentage.
Calvin Pickard may have earned the start in Game 5, though. The backup netminder was brilliant in this game, saving 22 of 23 shots, including some massive saves. He’s now 7-0 in the postseason. Moreover, Pickard’s breakaway save just a minute and a half before the Oilers second game is why they won.
The officials had an interesting game. All three calls in the first period went to the Panthers, but all three had to be called. That said, they also missed two high sticks by the Panthers, with one resulting in an immediate goal. However, the Oilers got away with two trips early in the period, and even though Troy Stecher was high-sticked, where is the defence on the Panthers’ third goal?
What is inexcusable is the missed board/hit from behind on Evan Bouchard late in the second period. This needed to be called a five-minute major for a review. Shortly after, Leon Draisaitl was (rightly) called for an elbow. Jeff Skinner also received a hit to the head in the third period that went uncalled.
Darnell Nurse was noticeable in this game, sometimes for good reasons, other times for not-so-good reasons. Starting with the good, two of the Oilers’ goals came when he drove in from the blue line. He also scored his third of the postseason. The bad? Well, he took a penalty that led to the Panthers’ five-on-three opportunity, which they almost immediately capitalized on. Nurse was also on the ice on the Panthers’ third goal.
Troy Stecher turned the puck over, which led to that goal. He played just 14 seconds in the second period and sat on the bench for the rest of the game. I’m not sure where the Oilers go from here. Does Klingberg draw back into the lineup, or will Ty Emberson get a shot?
It’s now a best-of-three to decide the Stanley Cup. The series returns to Edmonton for Game 5 on Saturday at 6:00 PM MT. It’s a pivotal game, and hopefully the Oilers come out on top.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Oilersnation, FlamesNation, and Blue Jays Nation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.
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