Stanley Cup Final Game 4: Draisaitl’s OT winner completes comeback for Oilers to tie series

Scott Maxwell
Scott Maxwell(scotmaxw)
Jun 12, 2025, 23:47 EDT
Edmonton Oilers center Leon Draisaitl (29) celebrates scoring in overtime against the Florida Panthers in game four of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final at Amerant Bank Arena.
Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

The Stanley Cup Playoffs are back, which means that for the next two months, we’ll get non-stop exciting action in the NHL as we witness history in another team looking to win a championship. Here at Daily Faceoff, we’ll be keeping you in the loop of everything that happened in the playoffs, every day until the Stanley Cup is hoisted in June.

After a disappointing Game 3 for the Edmonton Oilers, they were in desperate need of a win. Even with two of the next three games at home, being down 3-1 against the Florida Panthers is not a position they want to be. Plus, another bad loss could just be a momentum snowball that the Oilers can’t get out of.

And Game 4 looked like it was going to be just like that. The Panthers came flying out of the gate, and early saves from Stuart Skinner were needed to keep the game tied. Unfortunately, penalty trouble later in the period got the best of Edmonton, and Matthew Tkachuk scored two straight power play goals, plus an even strength goal from Anton Lundell in the final minute, to take a 3-0 lead into the dressing room.

With the poor start for Edmonton, Kris Knoblauch elected to change the goalie to spark the team, with Calvin Pickard taking over for Skinner to start the second period. An early power play goal from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins started a momentum swing for the Oilers, but it wasn’t until a big save from Pickard where things really began to change. Darnell Nurse scored on a tight angle barely 20 seconds later, and then only a couple minutes after that, Vasily Podkolzin tied the game at 3-3.

From there, it was a much tighter game, as neither team wanting to give away the pivotal goal in this one. With just over six minutes remaining, the Oilers thought they got that goal, as a one-timed bomb from Jake Walman beat Sergei Bobrovsky to give Edmonton their first lead of the game. But, some late pressure from the Panthers paid off, and Sam Reinhart scored with 20 seconds left in the game to tie it again and give us our third overtime of the series.

But the Oilers eventually got that game winner again. After 10 minutes of thrilling back-and-forth overtime hockey, Leon Draisaitl threw the puck on net with a back hander that found its way through Sergei Bobrovsky and in the net to win the game 5-4, and tie the series at 2-2.

We return to Edmonton with what has now become a best-of-three series, with the action resuming on Saturday night. Draisaitl had two assists along with the game-winner for three nights, while Tkachuk (2 G, 1 A) and Reinhart (1 G, 2 A) also had three-point nights in a losing effort.

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