Stanley Cup Final live updates: Panthers lose 5-4 in overtime. Series tied, 2-2
Draisaitl wins it (again). Edmonton 5, Panthers 4
We’ll be back in Sunrise on Tuesday for Game 6.
Game 1 overtime goal scorer Leon Draisaitl barged through the right circle, simultaneously muscled off A.J. Greer and sent the puck toward the net. The slow push deflected off sliding Panthers defenseman Niko Mikkola, and seeped through Sergei Bobrovsky 11:18 into an active overtime for a 5-4 Oilers win in Game 4.
Draisaitl’s fourth overtime goal of these playoffs sets the NHL record for most extra session goals in one playoff season.
The series moves to Edmonton for Game 5 even at 2-2 after three overtime games and one blowout.
Panthers ring a crossbar
A one-timed rocket by Panthers center Sam Bennett from the slot got gloved off the crossbar by Edmonton goalie Calvin Pickard.
Edmonton hits the first post in overtime
During a scrum in front of the Panthers net as Panthers defenseman Gustav Forsling tied up Trent Frederic and the twosome kicked the puck toward the goal where it clicked off the right post.
Reinhart saves the game (for now) with 19.5 seconds left
For the third time in four games, we’ve got overtime in this year’s Stanley Cup Final.
With goalie Sergei Bobrovsky pulled, Matthew Tkachuk had iced the puck with 1:01 left, putting Bobrovsky back in the net for at least the face-off. This looked like a Edmonton 4-3 win and a guarantee everybody returns to Sunrise for Game 6 on Tuesday. The Panthers could get shots at goal, but few on goal.
Then, Bennett came out of the right corner of the Edmonton zone and fed across the slot to Reinhart who tapped it to Tkachuk. As goalie Calvin Pickard reacted toward Tkachuk, Tkachuk lost control of the puck back to Reinhart. Pickard moving toward Tkachuk left Reinhart an open net and Reinhart knocked in his sixth goal of the playoffs.
Game 1 ended 4-3 on a power play goal by Leon Draisaitl late in the first overtime after Tomas Nosek’s delay of game penalty. Game 2 ended on a Brad Marchang breakaway in the second overtime.
Down 4-3, Panthers pull Bobrovsky
With 2:26 left, the Panthers pulled goalie Sergei Bobrovsky for an extra skater. The Panthers used their timeout with 1:21 left.
Panthers blow clears, Walman blows in slapshot
With the puck in the left corner of the Panthers zone, Panthers right wing Sam Reinhart, who had been spun to the ground by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins before he could move the puck from behind the net seconds earlier, put a pass in Aleksander Barkov’s skates. Nugent-Hopkins relieved Barkov of the puck and Kaspari Kapanen fired across to Jake Walman in the right circle.
Walman’s blast put Edmonton up 4-3 with at 13:36 of the third.
Yes, the same Walman fined $5,000 for squirting the water bottle at the Panthers bench in Game 3 and another $5,000 for punching Matthew Tkachuk while Tkachuck was being held.
Big save, penalty kill, keeps game tied
Other than taking the penalty that led to Edmonton’s first goal, Panthers center Sam Bennett’s Game 4 had been quieter than the Amerant Bank Arena crowd during the second period: zero hits, two shots.
Then, Bennett, the Panthers best player these playoffs, took a tripping penalty behind the play coming out of the offensive zone. The rebound of a between the circles drive from Connor McDavid got whipped on net and saved by Sergei Bobrovsky’s splits.
Edmonton gets Nurse help, Panthers three-goal lead gone
The Panthers spent most of the second period pinned into react mode, allowing Edmonton neutral zone space to rev up their assaults on the Panthers zone. What shots the Panthers managed on Calvin Pickard came unscreened and from Plantation.
But, it wasn’t Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl who got the Oilers’ second and third goals or even set them up. Edmonton’s Darnell Nurse, whose tripping penalty set the stage for the game’s first goal, conjured the two goals.
First, Nurse smoked a left circle wrister over Bobrovsky’s shoulder and just inside the left post at 7:13. The Panthers survived an Aleksander Barkov delay of game penalty and McDavid slaloming through tired penalty killers only to be turned away by Bobrovsky’s stomach snow angel.
Off a left circle draw on the next shift, Nurse muscled around the net and centered to Vasily Podkolzin, who potted the tying goal at 15:05 of the third.
For the period, Edmonton outshot the Panthers 17-10. The score more accurately reflected the play, although the Panthers had a great chance at taking the lead when Tkachuk got the puck in the right circle with Pickard somewhere in Sawgrass Mills. Ekholm subbed for Pickard and stopped the shot at the open net.
The Panthers ended the period on the power play after an iffy elbowing penalty on Draisaitl. Coming moments after Carter Verhaeghe definitely charged and possibly boarded Evan Bouchard with impunity, bouncing Bouchard’s head off the glass, this seemed a bit inconsistent.
Panthers take first penalty, Edmonton gets its first goal
Seconds after Edmonton defenseman Evan Bouchard air mailed a partial breakaway, he got slashed by Sam Bennett. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins buried a left circle wrister to cut the Panthers lead to 3-1, 3:33 into the second period.
Edmonton had the first five shots of the second, a period the Panthers dominated in Games 1, 2 and 3.
Panthers chase Edmonton goalie Skinner again
The Panthers’ fifth goal in Game 3 ended Stuart Skinner’s night in the third period. Thursday, Skinner lasted one period, getting yanked for Calvin Pickard after allowing three goals on 17 shots.
End of first period: Panthers 3, Edmonton 0
Anton Lundell scored off a fantastic Carter Verhaeghe forecheck and assist with 41.7 seconds left in the first period to give the Panthers a fat 3-0 lead after the first period. The Panthers outshot the Oilers 17-7, converted two of three power plays and stayed out of the box themselves.
When you’re playing well, you get breaks.
After Tkachuk’s goal at 16:56 put the Panthers up 2-0, a margin that fit the run of play, Edmonton put out Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl with Corey Perry to change at least the play if not the scoreboard. A rebound came to Draisaitl in the slot with Sergei Bobrovsky out of position. Either the puck hopped on June Sunrise ice or Draisaitl just flubbed it, but the rebound shot never got launched and the Panthers stayed up 2-0.
Well, stayed up until the next shift change. Panthers right wing Sam Reinhart threw the puck into the Edmonton zone and went to the bench for a line change. Verhaeghe pursued the dump-in. When Edmonton defenseman Troy Stecher partrially whiffed on a backhand while twisting from Verhaeghe, the Panthers left wing took the forced gift and fed Lundell, charging into the slot to begin his shift.
Edmonton stick gets up again, Panthers’ Tkachuk scores again
The Panthers seem to have solved their home power play problems. Maybe it was all that in-game practice from Game 3.
Edmonton defenseman Mattias Ekholm’s stick went upside Brad Marchand’s face, earning Ekholm two minutes of feeling shame. Well, only 1:38 as Tkachuk popped a rebound from outside the right post after Sam Reinhart whiffed on a shot from the slot, reset, got off a shot that Stuart Skinner saved to Tkachuk.
Edmonton goes 2-men down, Panthers go 1-0 up
Just when it appeared referees Chris Rooney and Jean Hebert might be using Rollerball championship game rules, Edmonton’s Evander Kane high sticked A.J. Greer. Darnell Nurse followed Kane 58 seconds later when he swept Barkov’s leg.
Matthew Tkachuk made the five-on-three pay off in four seconds with a left circle wrister: 1-0, Panthers, on Tkachuk’s first goal of the Cup Final. Four of his six playoff goals have been on the power play.
Both goalies tested early
Edmonton’s Connor McDavid, held to two shots in Game 3, came out sizzling in Game 4, getting a right circle shot and setting up a doorstep scoring chance on the first shift. The Panthers wanted the Barkov line and, especially, the Ekblad-Forsling pair against McDavid’s line.
After Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky made the stop on McDavid, Edmonton’s Stuart Skinner more than did his part to end this Cup Finals’ trend of early goals. Skinner hurled himself across the goalmouth to stop a Sam Bennett rebound shot at a briefly yawning net. Skinner also stopped Carter Verhaeghe on the doorstep the next shift.
Skinner, he of an .894 playoff save percentage, kept the game 0-0 despite the Panthers had a 9-2 shot advantage in the first eight minutes.
Bang the drum loudly
Doing the ceremonial drum banging at Amerant Bank Arena before Game 4 was NFL Hall of Fame defensive end and current University of Miami assistant coach Jason Taylor, who chased quarterbacks for the Dolphins during 13 of his 15 NFL seasons.
Taylor wore a Panthers jersey with his NHL number, 99. Probably one of the few times he wasn’t the best 99 in the house at a sporting event.
Edmonton lineup changes
The list of Oilers who could gulp pregame hot dogs Thursday now includes defenseman John Klingberg, a game worst minus three in Game 3 after being one of five Oilers who were minus one in Game 2. He’s replaced by Troy Stetcher, a scratch for the first nine Edmonton playoff games, in uniform for the next six and a scratch for the next four.
Joining Klingberg on the scratch list after playing in Game 3 is left wing Viktor Arvidsson, replaced in the lineup by Jeff Skinner. Arvidsson had a three-game point streak stopped in Game 3, so there’s probably an injury going on there.
Forward Lines, defense pairs and goalies for Game 4
The Panthers lineup remains unchanged from Game 3.
Forward lines
Carter Verhaeghe-Aleksander Barkov-Sam Reinhart
Evan Rodrigues-Sam Bennett-Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen-Anton Lundell-Brad Marchand
A.J. Greer-Tomas Nosek-Jonah Gadjovich
Defense pairs
Gustav Forsling-Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola-Seth Jones
Nate Schmidt-Dmitry Kulikov
Goaltenders
Sergei Bobrovsky
Vitek Vanecek
As for Edmonton, the Oilers’ line rushes during warmups matched the changes they made during morning skate...
Forward lines
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins-Connor McDavid-Connor Brown
Evander Kane-Leon Draisaitl-Kasperi Kapanen
Jeff Skinner-Adam Henrique-Trent Frederic
Vasily Podkolzin-Mattias Janmark-Corey Perry
Defense pairs
Brett Kulak-Evan Bouchard
Darnell Nurse-Troy Stecher
Mattias Ekholm-Jake Walman
Goaltenders
Stuart Skinner
Calvin Pickard
Series schedule
▪ Game 1 — Oilers 4, Panthers 3 (overtime): The Panthers had a two-goal lead early in the second period but couldn’t hold on as Edmonton tied the game early in the third and won it on a Leon Draisaitl power-play goal with 31 seconds left in overtime.
▪ Game 2 — Panthers 5, Oilers 4 (double overtime): The Oilers tied the game with 17.8 seconds left in regulation to force overtime for a second consecutive game. Brad Marchand scored the game-winner 8:05 into the second OT period to secure the Florida win and even the series 1-1.
▪ Game 3 — Panthers 6, Oilers 1: The Panthers dominated from start to finish, with six different players scoring and Sergei Bobrovsky stellar in net, before the game unraveled in the final 10 minutes.
▪ Game 4: Tonight
▪ Game 5: Saturday, June 14, 8 p.m., TNT, truTV, Max, Edmonton’s Rogers Place
▪ Game 6 (if necessary): Tuesday, June 17, 8 p.m., TNT, truTV, Max, Sunrise’s Amerant Bank Arena
▪ Game 7 (if necessary): Friday, June 20, 8 p.m., TNT, truTV, Max, Edmonton’s Rogers Place
Pregame reading
Need to catch up ahead of Game 4? Here are the highlights of the Miami Herald’s coverage over the past few days.
▪ After blowout win in Game 3, Panthers focus is on ‘mental reset’ as Cup Final continues
▪ Those final 10 minutes of Game 3? ‘An unraveling’ for Edmonton in Florida’s blowout win
▪ Reinhart’s first goal of Stanley Cup Final a big one in Panthers’ Game 3 rout of Oilers
▪ Was a real, bloody rat thrown on the ice after the Panthers Game 3 win?
▪ Amid blowout and brawl, Florida Panthers set records in Game 3 Cup Final win
▪ Panthers’ ability to agitate is ‘part of their DNA.’ It’s on display in the Cup Final
▪ Panthers in contract years are thriving in playoffs. What it means for Florida’s future
▪ ‘That man is an enigma:’ How Carter Verhaeghe’s game elevates in playoffs for Panthers
This story was originally published June 12, 2025 at 7:00 PM.
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