Stanley Cup Final all even at 2-2
EDMONTON – The Florida Panthers will look to gain a leg up in the Stanley Cup Final when they visit the Edmonton Oilers for Game 5 at Rogers Place on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET.
Tied 2-2 through the first four games of the cinematic series, teams that go up 3-2 have gone on to win a series 79.5% of the time in the history of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Not that it needs to be said, but this is a big one.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun tonight,” forward Carter Verhaeghe said. “They’re going to come out hard, and we are too. It’s a great matchup right now and every game is really close.”
In Game 4, each team had their push.
After the Panthers raced out to a 3-0 lead in the first period on a pair of power-play goals from Matthew Tkachuk and another strike from Anton Lundell, the Oilers evened the score on goals from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Darnell Nurse and Vasily Podkolzin in the second.
After Jake Walman put Edmonton on top 4-3 with a goal at 13:36 of the third period, Sam Reinhart forced overtime for the Panthers with a clutch goal with just 19.5 seconds left in regulation – the second-latest goal to tie a game in the history of the Stanley Cup Final.
In the extra frame, the Panthers missed out on a chance to take a 3-1 series lead when Calvin Pickard, who replaced Stuart Skinner in Edmonton’s net at the start of the second period, got just a piece of a shot from Sam Bennett to send the puck off the crossbar.
Not longer after that, Leon Draisaitl locked in the 5-4 win for the Oilers and evened up the series when his centering pass bounced off a defender and past Sergei Bobrovsky at 11:18.
Per NHL stats, the Oilers became just the seventh team in Stanley Cup Final history to overcome a three-goal deficit and win, and the first when trailing 3-0 after the first period.
“I just think it’s two really good teams,” Verhaeghe said of the momentum swings in the dead-even series. “Sometimes they’re all over us and we’re trying to find our footing in the D-zone and they’re buzzing around. We have stretches like, and they have stretches like that. That’s kind of what it is. They’re going to have their looks, and we’re going to have ours.”
As it has been all postseason, the Panthers will need to get the job done on the road.
Owning a 9-3 record away from home these playoffs, the defending champs have outscored the opposition 56-29 in those games. Filling up the net, their 4.67 goals per game are the most by any team with at least 10 road games in the playoffs in NHL history.
They’re also operating at 41.2% on the power play and 86.7% on the penalty kill.
Earlier in the series, the Panthers won Game 2 in Edmonton 5-4 in double overtime.
“I’ve noticed that the style of game we play, it travels,” defenseman Seth Jones said of the team’s success on the road. “We don’t change anything based on home or away, first change, last change, anything like that. Our game is very direct. It’s simple. It’s physical hockey and it’s fast. Nothing changes.”
Florida is not expected to make any lineup changes for Game 5.
“We’re healthy,” head coach Paul Maurice said.
Just as the Panthers have rocked on the road, the Oilers have held it down at home.
In nine games at Rogers Place, the Oilers have gone 7-2 while leading 41-25 goals.
For Game 5, it’s somewhat of an unstoppable force versus and immovable object.
Set to make a few lineup adjustments, the Oilers are expected to bring Viktor Arvidsson back into their forward group and send Kasperi Kapanen to the bench. On defense, Troy Stetcher, despite seeing just 4:18 of ice time in Game 4, is expected to keep his spot.
After stopping 22 of 23 shots in relief in Game 4, Pickard will get the start for Edmonton.
Despite not having eye-popping numbers, Pickard has been somewhat of a good luck charm for the Oilers this postseason, going 7-0 with a 2.69 goals-against average and .896 save percentage. In his regular-season career against Florida, he owns a 2-4-0 record.
With one team about to be put on the brink, the Panthers are ready to drop the puck.
“I think this is one of the tightest series anyone will ever see,” said forward Brad Marchand, who netted the winning goal in Game 2. “It’s exciting. With the talent level and how close these teams are, with how back-and-forth the games have been, it’s been very exciting.”
THEY SAID IT
“Every series we get into, our mindset is that it’s going to go seven. Right now, it’s 2-2 and a best-of-three. We like to grind. We have a grindy game. We like to play physical. We like it went it goes longer.” – Carter Verhaeghe
“It’s pretty impressive how this group is so in the moment. They don’t get too high; they don’t get too low. It was obviously a disappointing loss [in Game 4], but pages turn pretty quick. This time of year especially, you can’t get caught looking ahead or behind. It has to be in the moment.” – Brad Marchand
“We’re calm and confident. If we play our game, we know we’re going to win most games.” – Gustav Forsling
FIVE CATS STATS
– The Panthers have scored four or more goals in 14 of 21 games this postseason.
– Sam Bennett has tallied seven points (5G, 2A) during his five-game point streak.
– The Panthers are 7-0 these playoffs when Carter Verhaeghe lights the lamp.
– Sam Reinhart leads Florida with seven multi-point games this postseason.
– Matthew Tkachuk leads the Panthers with 11 power-play points (5G, 6A).
PROJECTED LINEUP (SUBJECT TO CHANGE)
Forwards
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
Defensemen
Gustav Forsling – Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola – Seth Jones
Nate Schmidt – Dmitry Kulikov
Goaltenders
Sergei Bobrovsky
Vitek Vanecek
HOW TO WATCH/LISTEN
When: Saturday, June 14 at 8 p.m. ET
Where: Rogers Place – Edmonton, AB
TV: TNT, truTV, Max, SN, CBC, TVAS
Radio: 560 WQAM (Dade/Broward); 92.1 WZZR-FM & 1230 WBZT-AM (Palm Beach); 100.3 WCTH (Florida Keys); Panthers App; SiriusXM Channel 220 / App & Streaming 931
Watch Party: Amerant Bank Arena

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