Can the Panthers shake it off after blowing a 3-0 lead in Game 4?
SUNRISE, Fla. – Was this the night that repeating as Stanley Cup champions got away from the Florida Panthers?
That will be the big question the Panthers will have to answer over the next week after coughing up a three-goal lead Thursday night and seeing what could have been a 3-1 series lead in this magnificent battle with the Edmonton Oilers become a best-of-three for all the marbles.
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On a steamy South Florida night in which Taylor Swift and beau Travis Kelce arrived in a helicopter that landed on the edge of the Everglades, the power couple were treated to one ferocious roller coaster of a game by two juggernauts.
In the end, after Sam Reinhart forced overtime with 19 ½ seconds left in regulation to temporarily rescue the Panthers after crumbling in the second period and giving up the go-ahead goal in the third, Leon Draisaitl scored his NHL-record fourth overtime goal of these playoffs. It was good timing, too, because the next whistle would have interrupted the back-and-forth overtime with the ice crew skating onto the snowy canvas with shovels for cleanup duty.
'A lot of the success in postseason is how you handle your losses,' Reinhart said in a quiet locker room after Edmonton's 5-4 win. 'They're going to happen, especially when you get down to the last two teams. You got to two of the best teams going at it. So you got to expect to lose at some point. There's a lot we can learn from and come back stronger in Game 5.'
LEON DRAISAITL IN OVERTIME AGAIN 🤯 #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/f4UYcpoE2i
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) June 13, 2025
The Panthers are usually one mentally strong team, so chances are they can turn the page and move on in this intense, fast, very even series where momentum hasn't necessarily carried over from game to game. After a couple classic games to open the series in Edmonton that went beyond 60 minutes, the Oilers got trounced in Game 3 by five.
But Thursday night, after marching to the penalty box three times in the first period and giving up consecutive Matthew Tkachuk power-play goals, it was the Oilers drawing the penalties in the second period and storming back to even the score at three by the second intermission.
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'We focus on sometimes the mistakes that get made by good players at times and you miss some of the heart and soul, the intensity of it,' Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. 'It's so fast. Every board battle, everything can turn into something, so there's a tension because both teams can score. Just everything is dangerous all the time. So there's a mental intensity, mental toughness both teams show. The game's not going to be over until it is. You get three of four games in a final into overtime, you've got two really good, evenly matched teams.'
So what happened to the Panthers on this evening?
'We probably got a little too stretched out — we weren't as connected,' Tkachuk said.
'I felt we were a little bit slow,' Reinhart said. 'I think we were watching the play develop, as opposed to playing on our toes, and that's obviously how they got back in the game.'
SAM REINHART SCORES WITH 19.5 SECONDS LEFT TO FORCE OVERTIME!!!
This game has been an absolute ROLLER COASTER of emotions 🎢 #StanleyCup
🇺🇸: @NHL_On_TNT & @SportsonMax ➡️ https://t.co/4TuyIATi3T🇨🇦: @Sportsnet or stream on Sportsnet+ ➡️ https://t.co/4KjbdjVctF pic.twitter.com/Z9Lz9fItLC
— NHL (@NHL) June 13, 2025
Much of the momentum came with the Oilers' goalie change after the first period.
Hours after Stuart Skinner said he expected to start Game 4 despite being chased in Game 3 because 'I don't really see too much reason to panic quite, quite yet,' he was pulled in a second game in a row for Calvin Pickard.
Pickard entered 6-0 in the playoffs and stonewalled the Panthers left and right to give the Oilers a chance to rally. He denied Anton Lundell on a breakaway. He denied Aleksander Barkov of a breakaway goal. He got some help from Mattias Ekholm and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins with a combo block of Tkachuk's attempt at a hat trick directed at a wide-open net.
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And in overtime, Pickard barely got a piece of playoff leading goal scorer Sam Bennett's rip — but just enough to send the puck ringing off the crossbar. Exactly four minutes later, Draisaitl was celebrating his latest OT dagger.
'I was just telling the guys I kind of read it pretty well, and then I looked in my glove and it wasn't in there,' Pickard said. 'I kind of heard the crowd like oohing and ahhing. It was a good bounce, and then we got one.'
Pickard got just enough of Bennett's shot#LetsGoOilers | #TimeToHunt https://t.co/zM0myjPByv pic.twitter.com/kCks2gcc86
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) June 13, 2025
The Panthers entered the Stanley Cup Final with a 31-0 record in the playoffs the past three seasons under Maurice in games in which they led after the first or second period. That record is now 33-2 after four games against the Oilers. The ultimate closers are starting to bend and break as high-octane Edmonton gives them all they can handle.
One of the biggest differences in this series compared to last year's matchup against the Oilers is Draisaitl's health. The Hart Trophy runner-up played hurt in last year's final round and finished with no goals and three assists in seven games. Now he's got four goals and three assists in four games. He's showing why he's the perfect complement to Connor McDavid.
Nevertheless, with a missed save here and good bounce there, Thursday's outcome could have gone Florida's way.
That's the Panthers' solace right now. As much as Game 4 was a wasted opportunity by blowing a 3-0 lead, they could have won and believe they'll be able to, ahem, shake it off.
In Game 2, Corey Perry scored a buzzer-beating tying goal in the third period to force overtime before Brad Marchand won it in overtime. Now the tables have turned — the Oilers didn't disintegrate after Reinhart's buzzer-beating goal in the third period forced overtime before Draisaitl's heroics.
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'There's a reason both teams are here, right?' defenseman Aaron Ekblad said. 'It's the final. It's the hardest trophy to win, and both teams are resilient and strong and have some amazing players that can do some amazing things. It's gonna take all of us. That's the message: Stay together and find a way to get it done.'
In other words, learn from it and then forget about it, Ekblad said, because this is typically a team that doesn't get rattled.
'You kind of ride that wave,' Reinhart said. 'It's an emotional grind. That's part of it. That makes it so sweet when you win it. So we're in another battle, and we won't want it any other way. And now it's about recovering and going into Edmonton and trying to do what we can to win a Game 5 and bring it back here.'
And if they can't, they could be looking back at Thursday night with much regret because — as Taylor Swift would say — this would be a 'Cruel Summer.'
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