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2025 Stanley Cup Final

Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final had a Little Bit of Everything

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Stanley cup final
Matthew Tkachuk and the Florida Panthers celebrate during the first period of Game 4 on Thursday night in Sunrise. But the Edmonton Oilers left happy after winning 5-4 in overtime. // Photo courtesy @FlaPanthers

SUNRISE — Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final had a little bit of everything for both the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers.

It has been as entertaining a first four games as anyone could have hoped for.

There were plenty of feel-good stories, and if you didn’t look at the final score — Edmonton won 5-4 in overtime — everyone should have gone away happy.

The Panthers started the first period of Thursday’s game right where they left off in Game 3, by taking advantage of a few not-too-smart penalties by the Oilers.

It looked like more of the same when Evander Kane and Mattias Ekholm took high-sticking penalties.

Kane’s penalty overlapped a tripping call against Darnell Nurse, giving Florida a 5-on-3.

It took all of 4 seconds for Sasha Barkov to win a faceoff and Matthew Tkachuk to fire home a power-play goal.

Tkachuk scored another with the man advantage later in the first period when Ekholm was in the box.

Panthers fans were probably already thinking about when the Stanley Cup parade would be when the first period ended, Florida holding a 3-0 lead.

At one time during the period, Florida held a 13-2 shot advantage.

The Oilers looked done.

There is a reason it has often been called the dreaded three-goal lead, especially this season when there have been so many comebacks.

There is also a reason why Paul Maurice doesn’t believe in momentum.

Things can change in a hurry.

And, they did.

After the first period, veteran Corey Perry supposedly had some words of encouragement for his team.

Do not bet on seeing a transcript of that.

“Well, I’m not going to share exactly what he said right now, but the message is that he’s been in these moments,’’ said Leon Draisaitl, who got his fourth overtime goal of these playoffs for the Oilers key win which tied the series at 2 headed back to Edmonton for Game 5.

“He’s not a guy that speaks up or yells at guys all the time. That’s not his character, so you know when a guy like that, with that many games and that much experience – he’s won everything there is to win, he knows how to win. When he speaks up, you listen. It grabs your attention. He’s a heck of a leader.”

Nurse had little more to say about Perry’s message.

“Just get to work. Honestly, that was the message,’’ Nurse said. “The tone might have been a little different but just put our heads down to work, as cliché as it was. … It’s not that  we haven’t heard it before. It just needed to be said in that moment.”

The second period was the Oilers’ time to shine.

Calvin Pickard replaced Stuart Skinner in goal.

Not an enviable position to be in but the veteran stopped 22 of 23 shots.

He would ultimately pick up his seventh victory in the playoffs with no losses on the ledger.

Not bad for a 33-year-old who has played for six NHL teams and earns not much above the NHL minimum.

“Unbelievable,’’ Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said. “To be able to step into a game like that and make some huge saves, like really tough saves, clutch saves, I can’t imagine coming off the bench as easy as a goalie, but he stepped in beautifully.”

Said Tkachuk: “Their goalie has made some great saves coming in. I mean, he’s undefeated right now. He made some big saves.’’

After the game, coach Kris Knoblauch had a lot of positive things to say about how Pickard has helped the team this season and how he has come into some difficult situations in the regular season and playoffs.

“He’s been a journeyman goalie. He’s been through it all,’’ Knoblauch said. “Right now, he’s been enjoying the ride.”

The next four goals came from players who had not scored in the series. So much for the Oilers’ purported lack of scoring depth.

Nugent-Hopkins, Nurse, Vasily Podkolzin, and Jake Walman ultimately put the Oilers ahead.

“It was just a mirror of the first period,’’ Maurice said of Edmonton’s three-goal second that had the game tied at 3 going into the third.

”They got into some penalty trouble there and we took advantage of it, the second period was just the opposite. Plus-3 on the power-play side early, minus-3 on the power-play side in the second. Then we came out, even tight, games right? both teams had some chances there, cracked some bars and had some chances that didn’t go, and it’s a bad break on the overtime winner.

“Three of the four games have gone to overtime and I think that’s probably the expectation of what we have going forward.”

Things didn’t look good for Florida until Sam Reinhart made the locals feel good again when he tied it up with 20 seconds remaining and Sergei Bobrovsky on the bench.

If the NHL only had ties, everyone would have gone home happy.

But they do not.

It looked like Draisaitl was trying to push a one-handed backhand pass across to Perry in the goalmouth.

It deflected off Niko Mikkola and into the net and all of Edmonton went into a massive celebration.

This series turned out to be as advertised.

It has been hard-fought on both sides with a good possibly this is going to 7 games.

“There’s a reason both teams are here, right? It’s the Final. It’s the hardest trophy to win,” Aaron Ekblad said. “Both teams are resilient and strong and have some amazing players that can do some amazing things.

“It’s going to take all of us. That’s the message: Stay together and find a way to get it done.”

2025 STANLEY CUP FINAL

GAME 5

FLORIDA PANTHERS @ EDMONTON OILERS

Best-of-7 Series Tied 2-2

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