GAME RECAP: Oilers 5, Panthers 4 - OT (Game 4)

SUNRISE, FL – The Stanley Cup Final is now a best-of-three heading back to Oil Country.

For the second time in four games, Leon Draisaitl was the overtime hero as he scored at the 11:18 mark of the first sudden-death frame to give the Oilers a miraculous 5-4 victory and even up the championship series at two games apiece with Game 5 slated for Saturday at Rogers Place.

The Oilers found themselves in a 3-0 hole after the first period of Thursday's Game 4 at Amerant Bank Arena and proceded to rattle off four straight goals to take a 4-3 lead, only to surrender the equalizer with 19.5 seconds left in regulation and win it in overtime on Draisaitl's 11th goal of the playoffs.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Darnell Nurse, Vasily Podkolzin and Jake Walman scored Edmonton's first four goals while Calvin Pickard made 22 saves in a 51-minute relief appearance to power the Oilers to the miraculous comeback victory.

"It's the craziest hockey I've ever played in," Walman said of the 2-2 championship series with three of the four games requiring OT. "But I feel like in front of our fans, that will even ramp up a little bit more. So excited to get back home."

FIRST PERIOD

Penalties were yet again the Oilers undoing in the opening period. After taking four and getting scored on once en route to a 6-1 loss in Game 3 on Monday, they were called for three infractions on Thursday and the Panthers tallied a pair of power-play goals plus one more at even strength to post a commanding 3-0 lead through 20 minutes.

Edmonton was under siege early but Stuart Skinner was able to weather the early storm, capped off by a leaping cross-crease save to deny red-hot Sam Bennett of what would have been the 1-0 tally.

It didn't take long for Florida to find one that counted, though, as Evander Kane was called for high-sticking and Darnell Nurse made it a five-on-three advantage about a minute later. On the faceoff that followed Nurse's penalty, Aleksander Barkov won the draw back to Tkachuk and he flicked a wrist shot past Barkov's screen, off Nugent-Hopkins' stick and under Skinner's blocker-side arm for his sixth of the playoffs.

Number seven for Tkachuk was also a power-play goal later in the period as the Oilers were shorthanded for high-sticking yet again, this time courtesy Mattias Ekholm. The winger chipped in a rebound from the side of the net to Skinner's left to put the Panthers up 2-0.

The opening frame onslaught ended with 42 seconds remaining when Carter Verhaeghe forced a turnover behind the Oilers net on a hard forecheck and found Anton Lundell in the slot for a one-timer for his sixth post-season deposit.

Florida outshot Edmonton 17-7 in the dominant first period performance.

SECOND PERIOD

Despite Skinner's 14 saves in the first period, Head Coach Kris Knoblauch needed to do something to give the team a jolt as he called upon Pickard to tend the twine for the second.

"It's unfortunate for Stu to be pulled there," Knoblauch said of the switch. "Our team was flat... We needed to change things up. And the change was great. The way he played, Picks made some really big saves... It was great to see him make the saves when we needed him."

The goalie change appeared to work right away as Edmonton earned a pair of partial breakaways early in the frame. Jeff Skinner was denied on multiple attempts on his rush, and Evan Bouchard missed the net but was slashed by Bennett on the play to put the Oilers on the man advantage for the first time in the game.

The Oilers then got a much-needed PPG as Draisaitl found Nugent-Hopkins in his usual spot on the left flank for a wrist-shot snipe over Sergei Bobrovsky's blocker-side shoulder for his first of the series and sixth of the playoffs to cut the deficit to 3-1 at 3:33 of the period.

A holding-the-stick penalty by Dmitry Kulikov put Edmonton back to the power play but they were unable to convert this time. The Panthers then came very close to stealing the momentum back when Lundell stole the puck from Jake Walman just inside the Oilers blueline and went in alone on Pickard, but the netminder passed his first big test of the night and kept it a 3-1 game.

The Blue & Orange rewarded him by cutting the deficit to 3-2 just over a minute later as Nurse scored on a sensational sharp-angle snipe while streaking down the left wing for his third of the playoffs.

A puck-over-glass delay-of-game penalty put the Oilers back on the PP again but Bobrovsky denied several high-danger scoring chances, including a Leon Draisaitl one-timer from his go-to spot on the right flank and a Connor McDavid dangle through the defence.

The Oilers were not deterred, though, and netted the equalizer with 4:55 to go in the period as Podkolzin put home a rebound on his backhand after a Nurse wraparound attempt for his second goal of the playoffs and first of two points in the game.

"It means everything," the Russian winger said of contributing in the Stanley Cup Final. "That's probably one of the best feelings I've ever felt to be part of this team and to be still playing in hockey in June."

Edmonton put up 17 shots of their own in the middle frame to Florida's 10 as the teams entered the third period all square.

"I knew we could come back," Knoblauch said of the rally. "It's not easy to, but I know with the group that we have, we can do it. We just gotta dig in and win a few more battles and play a little bit smarter. The guys didn't quit."

THIRD PERIOD & OVERTIME

Edmonton was immediately challenged to start the third as they still had 1:32 of Draisaitl's late elbowing penalty from the middle frame to deal with, but they killed it off and got back to even.

The first big chance of the period went to the Oilers as they were back on the power play when Bennett tripped Draisaitl. McDavid had an open shot from the slot that was denied by Bobrovsky, and the Florida netminder darted out his left pad to deny Corey Perry as well on the rebound attempt.

The Panthers applied plenty of pressure past the midway mark of the period but the Oilers were able to maintain the deadlock, paving the way for Walman's wicked go-ahead blast with 6:24 remaining as Mattias Janmark forced a turnover and Kasperi Kapanen set him up streaking down the right side.

"It was a great play by those guys down low," Walman said. "We were hard on the forecheck there, turned the puck over. That's kind of the MO of our team and what we did for the latter half of that game. And Kappy, I know he could have shot, but he decided to make a great play, made a pass and I just took a shot."

The home side pulled Bobrovsky for the extra attacker in the final two minutes and found the equalizer with just 19.5 seconds remaining as Reinhart somehow snuck a shot between Pickard's skate and the post from a sharp angle for his third point of the night.

About seven minutes into sudden death, Bennett got loose for an open one-timer blast but Pickard put his glove arm out just enough to deflect the puck up and off the crossbar. The Oilers went right back down the ice and Draisaitl's pass to McDavid cutting to the net skipped over the captain's stick as the teams exchanged prime scoring chances.

"He makes those stops at the key moments that we really need them," Draisaitl said of Pickard. "And he's one of the best in the league at making the right save at the right time. He's been nothing but spectacular for us."

Draisaitl's attempted pass to Perry bounced off Niko Mikkola and through Bobrovsky's legs to send the Oilers back home with the series tied as they return to Rogers Place where they're 7-2.

"I don't think there's a better place to experience a hockey game or for a hockey game to be played than in Edmonton," Knoblauch said. "The atmosphere there with the fans, the excitement in the building. But also around the city, I think it's great and I think it's well deserving that as exciting as this series has been it can be played in Edmonton."