SUNRISE, Fla. \u2013 Was this the night that repeating as Stanley Cup champions got away from the Florida Panthers?<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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<\/a> of a game by two juggernauts.<\/p>\n In the end, after Sam Reinhart forced overtime with 19 \u00bd 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.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of the success in postseason is how you handle your losses,\u201d Reinhart said in a quiet locker room after Edmonton\u2019s 5-4 win. \u201cThey\u2019re 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\u2019s a lot we can learn from and come back stronger in Game 5.\u201d<\/p>\n LEON DRAISAITL IN OVERTIME AGAIN \ud83e\udd2f #LetsGoOilers<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/f4UYcpoE2i<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) June 13, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n 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\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cWe 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,\u201d Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. \u201cIt\u2019s so fast. Every board battle, everything can turn into something, so there\u2019s a tension because both teams can score. Just everything is dangerous all the time. So there\u2019s a mental intensity, mental toughness both teams show. The game\u2019s not going to be over until it is. You get three of four games in a final into overtime, you\u2019ve got two really good, evenly matched teams.\u201d<\/p>\n So what happened to the Panthers on this evening?<\/p>\n \u201cWe probably got a little too stretched out \u2014 we weren\u2019t as connected,\u201d Tkachuk said.<\/p>\n \u201cI felt we were a little bit slow,\u201d Reinhart said. \u201cI think we were watching the play develop, as opposed to playing on our toes, and that\u2019s obviously how they got back in the game.\u201d<\/p>\n SAM REINHART SCORES WITH 19.5 SECONDS LEFT TO FORCE OVERTIME!!! <\/p>\n This game has been an absolute ROLLER COASTER of emotions \ud83c\udfa2 #StanleyCup<\/a><\/p>\n \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8: @NHL_On_TNT<\/a> & @SportsonMax<\/a> \u27a1\ufe0f https:\/\/t.co\/4TuyIATi3T<\/a> \u2014 NHL (@NHL) June 13, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n Much of the momentum came with the Oilers\u2019 goalie change after the first period.<\/p>\n Hours after Stuart Skinner said he expected to start Game 4 despite being chased in Game 3 because \u201cI don\u2019t really see too much reason to panic quite, quite yet,\u201d he was pulled in a second game in a row for Calvin Pickard.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s attempt at a hat trick directed at a wide-open net.<\/p>\n And in overtime, Pickard barely got a piece of playoff leading goal scorer Sam Bennett\u2019s rip \u2014 but just enough to send the puck ringing off the crossbar. Exactly four minutes later, Draisaitl was celebrating his latest OT dagger.<\/p>\n \u201cI was just telling the guys I kind of read it pretty well, and then I looked in my glove and it wasn\u2019t in there,\u201d Pickard said. \u201cI kind of heard the crowd like oohing and ahhing. It was a good bounce, and then we got one.\u201d<\/p>\n Pickard got just enough of Bennett’s shot#LetsGoOilers<\/a> | #TimeToHunt<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/zM0myjPByv<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/kCks2gcc86<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) June 13, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n
\ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udde6: @Sportsnet<\/a> or stream on Sportsnet+ \u27a1\ufe0f https:\/\/t.co\/4KjbdjVctF<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/Z9Lz9fItLC<\/a><\/p>\n