Oilers dig out of hole, tie Panthers headed to third period of Game 4
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Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Darnell Nurse, and Vasily Podkolzin scored as the Oilers dug out of a three-goal hole and head to the third period tied 3-3 with the Florida Panthers in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final.
The Oilers pulled starting goalie Stuart Skinner in favour of Calvin Pickard to start the second period after Skinner allowed three goals on 18 shots in the first.
Nugent-Hopkins brought the Oilers back to within two on the power play at 3:33 of the period, snapping a shot past Sergei Bobrovsky to give the Oilers life.
Pickard made a massive save on Anton Lundell midway in the period, keeping the Oilers in the game. After Oilers blueliner Jake Walman turned it over in his own zone, Lundell had a chance to put the game away on the breakaway but Pickard was up to the task, keeping the centreman from scoring his second of the game.
Nurse got the Oilers to within a goal with his third of the postseason at 12:47 of the period, minutes after Pickard’s stop on Lundell as he shot the puck over the shoulder of Bobrovsky from a sharp angle to bring the Oilers to within one.
The Oilers received their third power play chance of the game immediately following the Nurse goal but were unable to even the score with the man advantage. The best chance came when Connor McDavid danced through the Florida defence and got in alone on Bobrovsky but was unable to beat the outstretched pad of the Florida netminder.
Podkolzin tied the game at 15:05 of the period when he found picked the loose puck out of a scramble in front and backhanded his second of the playoffs past Bobrovsky.
Leon Draisaitl has two assists through 40 minutes, while McDavid, Mattias Ekholm, and Adam Henrique have one assist each though two periods.
Matthew Tkachuk opened the scoring in the first period on a 5-on-3 power play with his sixth goal of the postseason and added his second of the game on the Panthers' third power play opportunity of the first just over five minutes later.
Lundell scored with 41 seconds remaining in the period to give the Panthers a 3-0 lead at the first intermission.
The Panthers have gone 2-for-4 on the power play through 40 minutes, while the Oilers are 1-for-3. The Panthers will begin the third period with 1:28 of power play time.
The Oilers shook up their lineup after the 6-1 loss in Game 3, dressing forward Jeff Skinner and defenceman Troy Stecher in place of Viktor Arvidsson and John Klingberg, respectively. Connor Brown also played on the first line and skated beside McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
Corey Perry, who scored Edmonton’s only goal in Game 3, will play beside Podkolzin and Mattias Janmark.
The Panthers lead the series 2-1 with a chance to take a stranglehold of the series headed back to Edmonton for Game 5 on Saturda