Draisaitl's latest OT goal seals Oilers' thrilling rally

SUNRISE, Fla.

-- Leon Draisaitl scored in overtime for the fourth time this postseason, and the Edmonton Oilers beat the Florida Panthers 5-4 in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final on Thursday night to tie the series, erasing a three-goal deficit and bouncing back after allowing the late tying goal.

Jake Walman gave the Oilers their first lead with 6:24 left in the third period, before Sam Reinhart scored with 19.5 seconds left to send it to overtime.

Three of the first four games of this Final have needed extra time to be settled, the first time that has happened since 2013 and fifth time in NHL history.

Draisaitl's goal 11:18 into OT -- the fourth session of extra hockey between these teams -- sent the series back to Western Canada even.

Game 5 of what's turning into a classic, back-and-forth series between two hockey heavyweights is Saturday night in Edmonton.

"It's obviously a fortunate bounce.

No secret about it.

We'll take it," Draisaitl said.

"We're a resilient group.

We're never going to quit no matter what.

We'll take it and go home," he added.

"Our first isn't what we wanted and then we started to get our legs.

...

That's the intensity we have to play with when the puck drops." Draisaitl set an NHL playoff record with his fourth overtime goal in one postseason, breaking a tie with four players, including Florida's Matthew Tkachuk in 2023, current teammate Corey Perry , who did so with Anaheim in 2017, and Maurice Richard (1951).

It was Draisaitl's second overtime goal of this series, joining Montreal's John LeClair, who scored two OT goals in the Canadiens' win over Los Angeles in 1993, and the New York Rangers' Don Raleigh in 1950.

Editor's Picks Oilers' Skinner yanked again after 3 goals in 1st 35m Greg Wyshynski The Oilers became the first road team to erase a three-goal deficit to win a game in the Final since the Montreal Canadiens against the Seattle Metropolitans in 1919.

Only six teams have come back from down three goals in the Final in NHL history, the last time in 2006.

It was also the Oilers' fourth multigoal comeback win this postseason, which is tied for the second most in a postseason behind the 1987 Flyers, who had five.

Edmonton looked like it would be blown out of the series.

The Oilers fell behind 3-0 in the first period thanks to a pair of goals by Tkachuk and another with 41.7 seconds left from Anton Lundell , which could have been a backbreaker.

Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch pulled goalie Stuart Skinner after his starter allowed those three goals on 17 shots in the first, when his teammates did not have much of a pushback.

Knoblauch brought in Calvin Pickard , the journeyman backup who won all six of his starts this playoffs before getting injured.

"Obviously, from a goalie to another, you'd like to get a little notice," Pickard told TNT when asked about the switch after the game.

"But Knobber waited right until the 11th hour there, about 312 minutes on the clock.

So, I kind of scrambled getting my gear on." Pickard made some acrobatic saves, stopping the first 18 shots he faced and paving the way for a once-in-a-century comeback.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored on Edmonton's first power play, Darnell Nurse beat Sergei Bobrovsky with another shot up high and Vasily Podkolzin made it 3-all with less than five minutes left in the second.

With Draisaitl in the penalty box to start the third, the Oilers were on their heels for several minutes and relied on Pickard to keep the score tied.

He turned aside every shot he faced until Walman fired the puck past Bobrovsky to silence a majority of the crowd and incite a roar out of the Edmonton fans among those in attendance, along with Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce.

Panthers fans had one more chance to cheer when Reinhart tied it late.

Then, Draisaitl quieted them again.

"I think we believe that no matter how bad it is, if we get over that hump of adversity, we're going to keep pushing, we're going to keep coming, we're going to keep coming, eventually it'll break," Draisaitl said.

"Again, we don't want to be in these situations too many times, but when they happen, I think we're great at it." With Hockey Hall of Famers Wayne Gretzky, Jaromir Jagr and Henrik Lundqvist also in attendance, the Oilers made sure they would not fall behind 3-1 in the Final as they did last year.

They forced Game 7 then but fell short, with Florida winning the Cup for the first time in franchise history.

Now, each of these teams is a couple of victories from being champions.

The Associated Press and ESPN Research contributed to this report..

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