Calvin Pickard started Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final on the Edmonton Oilers’ bench wearing a backup goalie’s baseball cap. He ended it celebrating with his teammates on the ice at Amerant Bank Arena after leading them to a historic comeback victory.
Pickard relieved Stuart Skinner to start the second period with the Florida Panthers leading 3-0 and looking to move within one win of their second straight Stanley Cup championship. He made 22 saves, survived a late game-tying goal and a barrage of Panthers shots in overtime, before Leon Draisaitl’s goal at 11:18 of OT gave the Oilers a series-tying 5-4 victory.
Three of the first four games of this year’s Final were decided in overtime, the first time that’s happened since 2013 and the fifth time in NHL history. The Oilers host Game 5 on Saturday night.
Though Draisaitl was the overtime hero, becoming the first player in NHL history to score four OT goals in one playoff year, the only reason he got the chance to set the record was Pickard. The 33-year-old journeyman goalie gave the Oilers the chance to become the first team in Cup Final history to win a game after trailing by three or more goals after one period. Teams in that situation were 0-37 before Thursday.
It was only the seventh time in Stanley Cup Final history that a team overcame a deficit of at least three goals to win, and the first since Game 1 in 2006. The Oilers would probably like to forget that one; they led 3-0 late in the second period but lost 5-4 to the Carolina Hurricanes. Edmonton became the first road team to rally from three goals down to win a game in the Final since the Montreal Canadiens did it against the Seattle Metropolitans in 1919.
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Calvin Pickard provided spark Oilers needed to rally for Game 4 win
The first period was a nightmare, with the Oilers taking three careless penalties that led to two of the Panthers’ three goals.
Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch absolved Skinner of any blame for his team’s poor first period.
“Our team was flat,” he said postgame. “We needed to change things up, and the change was great, the way [Pickard] played. He made some great saves. I don’t think he faced many shots in the second period, but there were a couple of really big ones that he came up with.”
Knoblauch said he had no worries about changing goaltenders.
“I have confidence in him because of his record,” he said of Pickard, who won six straight starts in the first two rounds before an injury in Game 2 of the second round put Skinner back in the net. “Whether it’s last year, this year, especially the second half of this year, he’s been doing a lot of winning. He’s been getting a lot of goal support, but he’s been making the big saves when we’ve needed them.
“He’s been a journeyman goalie, he’s been through it all, and he’s enjoying the ride.”
Pickard had faced just two shots before his save on Anton Lundell at 11:23 of the second period might have saved the Oilers’ season. Edmonton trailed 3-1 when Oilers defenseman Jake Walman turned the puck over in the slot, allowing Lundell to walk in alone – only to be robbed by Pickard.
“Gets you feeling better,” Pickard said of the save on Lundell. “After that it was pretty steady. They had some looks, but we had a ton of looks too and our resolve was fantastic.”
Pickard’s game-saver gave the Oilers new life, and goals by Darnell Nurse and Vasily Podkolzin later in the period tied the game 3-3.
“Unbelievable to come into a game like that and make clutch saves,” said Oilers center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who scored Edmonton’s first goal.
Walman atoned for his miscue by giving the Oilers their first lead, beating Sergei Bobrovsky with a rocket from the right circle to make it 4-3 with 6:24 to play. It looked like Edmonton would hang on to the lead as the clock ticked down, but Matthew Tkachuk set up Sam Reinhart, who beat Pickard to make it 4-4 on a scrambly play with just 19.5 seconds remaining in regulation.
“Being down 3-0 against a great team, going up 4-3, it’s a tough one to give up at the end of the game,” Pickard said. “But we got to regroup, and we got a bounce of our own.”
The third overtime game of the series nearly ended at 6:48 of the extra period when Sam Bennett, who leads all playoff scorers with 14 goals, ripped a shot from the slot. Pickard got a little piece of his catching glove on the puck, enough to deflect it off the crossbar.
“The one in overtime, he just got his glove on to keep that from going in,” Knoblauch said. “It was great to see him make the saves when we needed them.”
Added Draisaitl: “He’s one of the best in the League at making the right save at the right time,” Draisaitl said.
The Panthers continued to carry the play in overtime before the Oilers got the break they needed to win.
Draisaitl carried down the right side and threw the puck toward Corey Perry in the slot. But it hit Panthers defenseman Niko Mikkola, who was sliding to block the pass, and slithered between Bobrovsky’s legs for the win.
“You give 29 (Draisaitl) some time with the puck there coming into the zone, he’s gonna make you pay,” Pickard said. “I think he got a good bounce; I honestly don’t even know. I just saw the puck go in. It was a game of bounces. We got the last bounce.”
