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NHL / 2025 Stanley Cup Final Game 4: NHL Fans React To Leon Draisaitl, Calvin Pickard Sparking Edmonton Oilers’ Rally Past Florida Panthers

2025 Stanley Cup Final Game 4: NHL Fans React To Leon Draisaitl, Calvin Pickard Sparking Edmonton Oilers’ Rally Past Florida Panthers

Jeff Hawkins Written by Sports EditorJeff Hawkins
Updated –
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On a day when he finished second in NHL MVP voting, Edmonton Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl displayed his league-leading skillset. 

Draisaitl scored in overtime and was credited with two assists Thursday, leading the Oilers to a 5-4 victory over the Florida Panthers in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final at Amerant Bank Arena. Backup goalie Calvin Pickard stopped 22 of 23 shots over the final 51:18 as the Oilers rallied from a 3-0, second-period deficit.

With his fourth overtime goal this postseason, Draisaitl established a new NHL single-season record. The Panthers, meanwhile, became the first team in Stanley Cup history to lose a game after leading by at least three goals after 20 minutes. 

With the series tied at 2-2, Game 5 is Saturday night in Edmonton. 

How different it could have been. With the score 3-1 at 11:24 of the second period, Pickard bailed out defenseman Jake Walman for turning the puck over to Anton Lundell, who skated in on a mini-breakaway. Pickard turned aside the wrist shot. If the Panthers had scored and went up 4-1 at that point, who knows?  

X (Twitter) fans react to Pickard making one of the Oilers’ biggest saves in franchise history …

The calm before the Game 4 storm …  

A storm of pregame celebration was brewing outside Amerant Bank Arena …

The stars came out for Game 4 …

Panthers coach Paul Maurice reached a coaching milestone Monday night … 

Drumming up pre-opening faceoff momentum …

Oilers starting goalie Stuart Skinner had Game 4 history, going 6-0 with a 1.26 goals-against average, .955 save percentage and two shutouts in his previous starts. On Thursday, however, he yielded three goals on 17 shots. He looked good early, but was pulled after the opening 20 minutes …

Panthers’ Matthew Tkachuk scored the game’s opening marker on a short-side shot with the two-man advantage …

Tkachuk collected his second first-period power-play goal off helpers from Sam Reinhart and Aleksander Barkov …

With 42 seconds remaining in the first frame, Lundell scored off assists from Carter Verhaeghe and Reinhart to give the Panthers what appeared to be a commanding 3-0 lead …

The Oilers proved again they had team heart as Ryan Nugent-Hopkins started the comeback by scoring on the power play 3:33 into the second period. Both Draisaitl and Connor McDavid were credited with assists …

Defenseman Darnell Nurse pulled the Oilers to within one (3-2) at 12:47 of the second period …

Vasily Podkolzin capped the second-period flurry by scoring off assists from Nurse, who made the play, and Draisaitl …

At 13:36 of the third period, Walman’s slap-shot goal silenced the Amerant Bank Arena crowd …

With just over 20 seconds remaining in the third period, Reinhart scored his sixth postseason goal to send the game into overtime … 

The one-handed winner … 

Draisaitl’s new NHL single-season record …

Final score: Oilers 5, Panthers 4 (OT) …

Jeff Hawkins Written by Sports EditorJeff Hawkins
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry, in both print and digital media. He ed the Sportscasting team in 2021 following a decade of freelancing. He spent his early career as a reporter for various newspapers in Illinois, New York, Florida, North Carolina, and Michigan, with a particular emphasis as a beat reporter for the Chicago Blackhawks. Jeff earned his bachelor's degree in journalism from Oakland University. Over the course of his career he earned several sports writing awards, including two national awards from the Associated Press Sports Editors for column writing and news reporting. One of the five prized columns included a commentary on NASCAR's increasing corporate influences, particularly in northern racetracks — commentary which you might find Jeff building on as part of the Motorsports writing team at Sportscasting now.  
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