CNN
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And like that, we have a series.
The Edmonton Oilers completed their age comeback to tie the Stanley Cup final 2-2 with the Florida Panthers overtime 5-4.
After erasing the three-goal deficit, the Oilers led 4-3 when Florida’s Sam Reinhardt found the back of the net and tied it behind the net with 19.5 seconds remaining for defending Cup champion Panthers.
However, it was a familiar face that he took the problems into his own hands during his overtime.
Game 1 OT hero Leon Draysightle was once again in the role, scoring more than 11 minutes from the extra period to bring Canada back to Canada and feeling excited.
The 29-year-old German had the knack for scoring overtime, especially in these playoffs. Game 4 goal is his fourth and the most OT goal in the postseason in NHL history.
The victory marked Edmonton’s first team in 106 years, making a comeback from a three-goal deficit and winning the Stanley Cup Final Series path. The feat last happened in 1919 when the Montreal Canadian defeated the big city of Seattle. It is also only the sixth time in NHL history that a team has returned from a three-goal deficit to the Stanley Cup final.
When Taylor Swift and Travis Kelse looked at the Amerant Bank Arena, it appears Edmonton’s path to victory was not reachable.
Thursday’s game looked like a repeat of beatdowns the Panthers placed with the Oilers early in Game 3.
Florida quickly jumped to a 3-0 lead 41 seconds before their first break after two power-play goals from Matthew Tokachuk and an Anton Landell goal.
Edmonton replaced goaltender Stuart Skinner with a backup Calvin Picard to begin the second term, rejuvenating the struggling Oilers team.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Darnell Nurse and Vasily Podkolzin all scored to tie things together 3-3 as Edmonton tied things together after two periods and the home crowd stumbled.
Oilers defender Jake Walman gave Edmonton a 4-3 lead with 6:24 remaining, but Reinhardt ultimately wasn’t like that, but poured his life into the South Florida crowd.
Draysightle praised his teammates for their unattended attitude despite the holes the team sometimes digs.
“We want to put ourselves in a better situation for ourselves, so we don’t have to constantly fight back and hang out there and scratch and come back,” Draisaitl told the TNT Sports broadcast. “But that’s a big feature of our team. We keep cutting it off. And, today, obviously, it wasn’t a great start, but then we started playing.”
Draisaitl downplayed his overtime goal record, saying that he was “good,” but the team “had more work.”
“I’ll take it, but (a) there’s a big picture,” added Draysitl.
The series will return to Western Canada at Rogers Place in Edmonton for Game 5 on Saturday.