Oilers stun Panthers in biggest Stanley Cup final road comeback in 106 years | Stanley Cup

Leon Draisaitl scored 11:18 into overtime as the Edmonton Oilers completed a stunning comeback to beat the Florida Panthers 5-4 in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup final on Thursday night, tying the best-of-seven series at two games apiece.

The Oilers became the first road team to rally from a three-goal deficit and win a Stanley Cup final game since the Montreal Canadiens did it against the Seattle Metropolitans in 1919. It’s only the sixth time in NHL history that a team has come back from down three to win a final game.

Edmonton looked finished after giving up three goals in the first period. Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk struck twice on the power play and Anton Lundell added a third just before intermission, chasing Oilers starter Stuart Skinner for the second straight game. But Calvin Pickard stepped in and held Florida to one goal the rest of the night, making 22 saves and sparking one of the most improbable wins in Cup final history.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins started the comeback with a power-play goal early in the second period, Darnell Nurse made it 3-2 with a rising wrister, and Vasily Podkolzin tied it with a scrappy finish in front of the net. Jake Walman gave the Oilers their first lead with 6:24 left in regulation, sending a booming slap shot past Sergei Bobrovsky.

Florida weren’t done. Sam Reinhart slammed home a rebound with 19.5 seconds left to force overtime for the third time in four games, something that’s happened only five times in final history and not since 2013.

That set the stage for Draisaitl, who entered the night without a goal in the series but left it as the hero, having netted his fourth overtime goal of these playoffs.

Tkachuk had a three-point night for Florida, as did Reinhart. Bobrovsky made 30 saves but was under siege in the second and third periods as Edmonton tilted the ice.

The Oilers, who lost last year’s final in seven games to this same Panthers team, refused to go down quietly this time. Game 5 is Saturday night in Edmonton.

With Draisaitl in the penalty box to start the third, the Oilers leaned on Pickard to preserve the tie. The journeyman netminder – who had won six playoff starts this spring before a recent injury – made several critical saves to keep momentum from slipping.

Among the 19,000-plus on hand at Amerant Bank Arena were a pair of high-profile spectators: Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. The pop icon and Super Bowl-winning tight end arrived amid heavy speculation and pregame fanfare, with VIP entrances sealed off and a helicopter seen landing nearby.

Swift and Kelce were shown on the broadcast during the first period, holding hands as they made their way to their seats. It marked yet another high-profile sporting event for the couple, whose appearances at NFL games and US Open tennis matches have drawn mass attention since going public in 2023.

Also in the building were hockey legends Wayne Gretzky, Jaromir Jagr and Henrik Lundqvist, along with former NFL star Jason Taylor and Miami Heat veterans Bam Adebayo and Udonis Haslem.

But by the end of the night, the loudest cheers came from a pocket of Edmonton fans – and a growing chorus that this Final is far from over.