What. A. Game.
On Sunday evening, the Edmonton Oilers hosted a pivotal Game 4 of their first-round series against the Los Angeles Kings. Either they won and tied the series or they would have to head back to L.A. one loss away from elimination. 
Thankfully, the Oilers were able to overcome an early deficit to win the game in overtime and knot the series at two games each. Let’s go through what happened in this one.
Midway through the first period, Darnell Nurse panicked on a Kings dump, ringing the puck around the boards to be intercepted by Trevor Moore. Phillip Danault got the puck, made a quick pass to a cutting Moore, and he beat Calvin Pickard five-hole with the shot for the 1-0 lead.
It took 91 seconds into the second period for the Kings to extend their lead to two. Connor Brown committed a pretty bad turnover at the Oilers’ blue line, and former Oiler Warren Foegele was lost behind the defence. On his partial breakaway, he moved Pickard’s pad out of the way and put the puck into the back of the net. This probably should’ve been challenged by the Oilers.
Just over five minutes into the second, Leon Draisaitl made a nice play down low to Corey Perry. After his initial shot was saved, he batted it over Darcy Kuemper’s net and smacked it in when it landed. Pretty nice goal here from the soon-to-be 40-year-old.
The Oilers won an offensive zone faceoff, but Evan Bouchard lost the puck trying to make a move, allowing his player to get behind him. Kevin Fiala batted the puck down (it looked above his shoulders) to get the breakaway, beating Pickard below the blocker and above the pad for the 3-1 lead.
With just over 12 minutes left in the game, the Oilers found life. Draisaitl’s shot was fumbled in front of Kuemper, bouncing out in the slot for Bouchard. It wasn’t a Bouchbomb that beat Kuemper, but a knuckle puck that took a deflection off a Kings’ leg to bring the Oilers to within one. That’s all they’d get, though.
For the second time in the series, the Oilers scored with an empty net. After sustained zone pressure, Bouchard passed the puck to Draisaitl, got the puck back, and wired it into the back of the net to tie the game with 28.4 seconds left.
On a power play in the final two minutes of the first overtime period, a scramble ensued in front of the Kings’ net. The puck leaked out to Draisaitl on the side of the net, with the Rocket Richard winner making no mistake in winning the game and tying up the series.

Takeaways…

That may have been the best game of hockey I’ve ever watched, and I said that after Game 1. Losing this game would’ve put the Oilers’ chances of winning the series below five percent by my estimation. I told myself I wouldn’t shout if the Oilers scored (the game finished passed 1 AM where I am), but I couldn’t help myself.
Evan Bouchard had a game. He was directly responsible for the Kings’ third goal, playing around with the puck too much and letting his defender get behind him. However, he made up for it by scoring back-to-back goals, including the game-tying goal with less than half a minute left in the game. There’s a copy of this article that no longer exists, which was very critical of his play.
Leon Draisaitl also had a fantastic game, scoring the game-winning goal and adding three assists in one of his best playoff games of his career. The German played 30:50 in this game, the most for any forward. 
The Oilers rolled all four lines in the overtime period, albeit they were blended. Even Mattias Janmark got a few overtime shifts and was flying. Edmonton’s only player in the extra frame that didn’t see any time was Ty Emberson, who played just eight minutes over the course of the game. 
After the second period, the Kings were outshooting the Oilers 28-13, nearly double. But the Oilers fired 15 shots on Darcy Kuemper in the third period in an attempt to tie the game. They then added another 17 shots in a dominant overtime period before finding the game-winning goal. Overall, the shots finished 48-41 for the Oilers, and it could’ve been more as well, as the Kings blocked an incredible 32 shots.
Still, Calvin Pickard faced 41 shots and saved 38 of them for a .927 save percentage, by far the best game for an Oiler goalie this postseason. Sure, he’d love to have the first one back, but he made some key saves.
It’s now a best-of-three, and the Kings have home ice advantage. The pivotal Game 5 is on Tuesday at 8:00 PM MT and realistically, it’s a must-win game for the Oilers.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Oilersnation, FlamesNation, and Blue Jays Nation. They can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.