SUNRISE, Fla. — Leon Draisaitl scored in overtime for the fourth time this playoffs, 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.
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Ex-San Jose Sharks defenseman 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 the 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 all even. Game 5 of what’s turning into a classic back-and-forth series between two hockey heavyweights is Saturday night in Edmonton.
The Oilers became the first road team to rally from a three-goal deficit to win a game in the final since the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Seattle Metropolitans in 1919. Only six teams have come back from down three in the final in NHL history, the last time in 2006.
The Oilers fell behind 3-0 in the first period on a pair of goals by Matthew Tkachuk and another with 41.7 seconds left from Anton Lundell, which could have been a back-breaker.
Coach Kris Knoblauch pulled Stuart Skinner after his starter allowed those three goals on 17 shots in the first, when the ice was tilted against him and his teammates did not have much of a pushback. In went Calvin Pickard, the journeyman backup who won all six of his starts this playoffs before getting injured.
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.
Pop superstar Taylor Swift and boyfriend Travis Kelce were among the celebrities who flocked to Amerant Bank Arena on Thursday to watch Game 4 of the final.
Kelce, a Super Bowl-winning tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs, is a known hockey fan, as is his brother, Jason Kelce. And ever since Swift and Kelce began their high-profile romance in 2023, the 14-time Grammy Award-winning singer has been known to take in sporting events — including the last two Super Bowls — and cause an excited frenzy for fans.
There were rumblings ahead of Thursday’s game that the couple might attend the final.
A helicopter landed near Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida, ahead of the game. The VIP entrance to the area was also closed off, and the media elevator was unavailable for use during a period before pregame warmups began.
The pair was shown on the television broadcast during the first period of the game.
Swift recently announced that she regained control over her entire body of work. In a lengthy note posted to her official website, Swift said that all the music she’s ever made now belongs to her after she has purchased her catalog of recordings — released initially through Big Machine Records — from their most recent owner, the private equity firm Shamrock Capital.
Over the last few years, Swift has been rerecording and releasing her early albums in an attempt to regain control of her music.
Other celebs in attendance included former Miami Dolphins star defensive end Jason Taylor, who banged the drum before the game, and hockey great Jaromir Jagr. Miami Heat captain Bam Adebayo was joined by former Heat captain Udonis Haslem on the drum on Monday.