June 12, 2025 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers and the Florida Panthers needed overtime to decide a game for the third time in this Stanley Cup Final in Game 4. The Panthers were all over the Oilers in the first period. Stuart Skinner and the Oilers withstood an early game barrage from the Panthers, but they could only keep the dam from bursting for so long. Penalty trouble cost the Oilers in the second half of the first period. Matthew Tkahcuk opened the scoring on a five-on-three for the Panthers, then he scored another powerplay goal later in the period. Anton Lundell added another one late in the first period for the Panthers to put them up 3-0 at the first intermission.

The Oilers responded like they have so many times this spring. They got a powerplay goal early in the second period to get on the board, which shifted the momentum. Then they scored goals 2:18 apart to tie the game with just under five minutes left in the second period. They took the lead with 7:24 remaining in the third period, but Sam Reinhart and the Panthers tied the game with 19.7 seconds left.

The Panthers took some momentum into the overtime period, but the Oilers got a bounce and found a way to prevail 5-4 in overtime.

Callouts

The Oilers needed to stay out of the box, especially in the first period, after what happened in Game 3. They failed to stay out of the box. Evander Kane and Darnell Nurse took penalties approximately a minute apart to put the Oilers down by two men, and it took the Panthers all of four seconds to make the Oilers pay on the five-on-three. Mattias Ekholm took another penalty later in the period, and the Panthers scored again. I would have time for an argument that the Panthers player lifted Kane’s stick into his own face, but Kane’s stick shouldn’t have been as high as it was. All three were sloppy stick penalties that the Oilers couldn’t afford, and they found themselves in an early deficit because of it.

The penalties would be one thing if the Oilers penalty kill was playing well, but they aren’t. They went 2/4 in the game. 50% isn’t good enough to win many hockey games. The Oilers have now given up a powerplay goal in the first period of every game this series.

I honestly felt really bad for Troy Stecher because of what happened on the 3-0 goal. The Panthers dumped the puck in, and Stecher won the race to the puck. He had inside position on Carter Verhaeghe. The play was to just stop the puck and chip it by Verhaeghe to Nurse. He made the right read, but he just missed the puck. Verhaeghe timed his hit on Stecher well, and he caused a turnover. Lundell was alone in the slot, and he made no mistake. Stecher didn’t see the ice again after that play, which was really too bad because I thought he was doing well before that unfortunate play happened. I’ll be interested to see what the defence pairs look like for Game 5.

Standouts

Leon Draisaitl set an NHL record with his fourth overtime goal of these playoffs! He had never had one in his career prior to this spring, and now he has more overtime winners in one postseason than anyone else ever has. He cut down the right wing and tried to sweep a pass across the slot, but the puck ended up deflecting off of Niko Mikkola’s shin pad and between the legs of Sergei Bobrovsky for the game winning goal. Draisaitl also had two assists, four shots on goal, and two hits in Game 4.

Calvin Pickard was tremendous in relief of Skinner. Pickard started the second period after Skinner had allowed three goals in the first period. His only blemish was the game-tying goal by Reinhart with twenty seconds left, which was a bit of a broken play. Pickard made a ton of crucial saves, including a wide open one-timer from about fifteen feet on the leading goal scorer in the playoffs (Sam Bennett) in overtime. Pickard is now 7-0 in these playoffs, which is truly remarkable.

Shoutouts

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins got the Oilers going with a powerplay goal early in the second period. He received a cross-ice pass from Draisaitl in the left circle. Normally, Nugent-Hopkins likes to delay his release and work himself towards the middle of the ice before shooting in situations like that; but he decided to release it sooner this time. He roofed it over Bobrovsky. Nugent-Hopkins is clearly not at 100% as he has not been skating with the team on off days. He also briefly left the game in the second period, but he returned.

Nurse was a big part of the comeback effort in the second period. He scored the 3-2 goal on a snipe from the bottom of the left circle, and he got an assist on the 3-3 goal by circling the net and throwing it into the crease area. Nure had four shots on goal and four blocked shots on top of his two points.

Jake Walman had a whale of a game. He blasted a slapshot by Bobrovsky to give the Oilers a 4-3 lead late in the third period after taking a smart pass from Kasperi Kapanen. That was a huge goal, but Walman also blocked SEVEN shots in Game 4! Walman brought it at both ends of the ice.

Vasily Podkolzin got a goal and an assist. He scored the 3-3 goal off a rebound, and he made a great cross-ice pass to Draisaitl before he scored the game-winner. Podkolzin also had five hits.

Trent Frederic didn’t get a point in Game 4, but that was his best game of the playoffs so far. He led the Oilers with seven hits. He was really close to scoring in overtime, but the bounce didn’t go his way in the net front scramble. I thought he was really involved all night long, which was nice to see.

It’s probably going to feel weird seeing Skinner’s name come up in this section after giving up three goals in the first period and getting pulled, but it wasn’t his fault that the team was down 3-0 after one period of play. He made several big saves to keep the game scoreless in the first half of the first period. He beaten on a perfect shot through a screen on the first goal, he had no chance on the passing play on the second goal, and there was a quick turnover just prior to the wide open look from the slot that beat him for the 3-0 goal. The pull was justified to stabilize the team and wake them up a little bit, but this wasn’t a terrible outing from Skinner.

Corey Perry also didn’t get a point, but he apparently had some words for the team in the first intermission. We don’t know what was said; but whatever it was, it worked. Perry has won everything there is to win in hockey, and he has the respect of everyone in that locker room. As Draisaitl said after the game, they listen when he speaks up like he did in Game 4.

Wrap

The Oilers are the first team in Stanley Cup Final history to come back and win a game after trailing 3-0 in the first period. It was the first such result in 38 opportunities. They are only the eighth team to win a game after trailing 3-0 at any point. The last team to pull this off was the 2006 Carolina Hurricanes over the Oilers in Game 1 of the 2006 Stanley Cup Final.

Game 3 didn’t go their way, but you can’t count this Oilers team out of a game! That’s their eighth comeback win of these playoffs. They not only showed resilience by coming back in this game, but also by finding a way to get the split in Florida after the debacle that was Game 3.

Related: Callouts, Standouts, and Shoutouts: Oilers fall to Panthers in Game 3 beatdown

This Stanley Cup Final is now a best-of-three, starting with Game 5 on Saturday night at Rogers Place.