Dave Hyde: Everything's up for grabs again after Panthers lose Game 4 in overtime
Published in Hockey
SUNRISE, Fla. — All of a sudden, Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl found the puck on his stick in front of the net, and it didn’t matter that he had only one hand on his stick because anything could happen this game and everything practically did.
Comebacks. Throwbacks. Miracle twists. Unbelievable turns. Now Draisaitl scored the look-ma-one-hand winning goal in overtime by banking it off Florida Panthers defenseman Niko Mikkola’s skate.
The Panthers saw Game 4 slip away, again, this time for good in Edmonton’s 5-4 win.
Just like that, everything was up for grabs again in the Stanley Cup Final and Taylor Swift, spectating, had to wonder how she could compete with this entertainment. Eras Tour? This Era-Defining Hockey with three overtimes in four games.
“This is Christmas,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said of working this larger series and obviously not this Game 4 loss. “This is the juice that you live for.”
If Edmonton goes on to win the Stanley Cup, the Panthers’ regret will be real and obvious. They had control of this night, and with it this series, with a 3-0 lead after the first period. That kind of lead wasn’t just backed up by history — no team had blown a three-goal lead in a Stanley Cup Final game since the Seattle Metropolitans did in 1919 against the Montreal Canadiens. Seattle still hasn’t recovered.
But then Edmonton scored a power-play goal to get the belief they needed. The Panthers took two more second-period penalties and, though Edmonton didn’t score, it got its full game under its skates to make it 3-3 after two periods.
Even when Edmonton 4-3 lead late in the third period, nothing was done. It was the Panthers’ time to showed who they are and why they’re here. Sam Reinhart tied the game with 19.5 seconds left in regulation to uncork Amerant Bank Arena and send everyone to overtime. Again.
There, in overtime, more chaos ensued. Panthers defenseman Gustav Forsling stopped a goal with his skate amid a five-car pileup in front of the net. Sam Bennett’s deflected off goalie Calvin Pickard’s glove and solidly whacked the crossbar.
“Cracked it,” Maurice said.
Oh, and Pickard replaced Edmonton starter Stuart Skinner after that first period and stopped 24 of 25 shots with the help of that crossbar.
“I looked in my glove and (the puck) wasn’t there, and I heard the crowd ooohing and ahhing,” Pickard said. “We got one.”
The oohs and ahhs went to silence when Draisaitl ended it. It meant the Panthers will have to go to Edmonton and win another game, either Game 5 or 7, to take the Cup.
They’ll have to do what each team has plenty this series: Forget the previous game. Forget their 3-0 lead (two goals by Matthew Tkachuk). Forget they’d scored 12 of that stretch’s 14 goals in the series then. Forget they they’d only lost one game in the past three years when leading after the first or second periods.
Of course, that sole loss was Game 1 against Edmonton. Draisaitl scored that winner in overtime, too.
So, what happened? Maybe they sat back too much, same as they did in Game 1. Maybe the goalie switch to Pickard energized a desperate Edmonton. Pickard is 6-0 these playoffs when coming on in relief.
Maybe, too, these are the kind of wild swings and unexpected rallies that you expect in a championship series between two heavyweights. Maurice said everyone looks in this series at how teams makes mistakes instead of lauding great players making great plays.
“Tight game,” he said. “Cracked some bars. Some misfortune on the winning goal.”
Connor McDavid said after Edmonton went off the rails in Game 3, “I don’t think our best has shown up all series long, but it’s coming.”
You saw it starting in the second period of Game 4. The series now goes back to Edmonton as a best-of-three series that begins across the continent with one day’s rest before Saturday’s Game 5.
You’ve seen some good of each side, some parts they’d like back. But you’ve mostly seen the kind of dramatic hockey where you don’t know quite what to expect next.
“At ice level, the speed, the skill, the intensity of it is incredible,” Maurice said.
Pack a bag. Get the passport. The first real break in the series is coming after Game 5 Saturday night in Edmonton. One team will be one win away from the Stanley Cup. Predicting how it will happen just appears beyond anyone at this point.
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