This Stanley Cup final rematch between the Edmonton Oilers and the Florida Panthers has been so tight after four games that three of the four games required overtime.
Games 1, 2 and 4 have required at least one extra frame. The Oilers’ Leon Draisaitl scored the overtime-winner in Game 1, while Brad Marchand was the hero for the Panthers in Game 2.
It didn’t seem like Game 4 would need an extra frame after Florida took an early 3-0 lead and then blew it to trail 4-3 to the Oilers late in regulation.
Another clutch moment transpired as Panthers right winger Sam Reinhart equalized with 19.5 seconds remaining in the third period to force overtime yet again.
But for Florida, Reinhart’s goal was put to waste when Draisaitl won Game 4 for Edmonton to tie the series 2-2. This was his second overtime-winner in this series and fourth in the playoffs, an NHL single-playoff record.
The 100th Stanley Cup final game to go to overtime in NHL history also puts this series in a likelier scenario to tie a 74-year-old record of most overtime games in Cup final history.
The Oilers and Panthers have already matched six other Stanley Cup finals in second place with three games that required overtime.
The last time a final had three games go to overtime was in 2014 between the Los Angeles Kings and the New York Rangers. The Kings won that series in five games, thanks to a famous Alec Martinez series-clincher in overtime of Game 5.
Only one final had more overtime matchups.
In 1951, the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Montreal Canadiens in a five-game series. All those games went to overtime, and four of them ended 3-2. (Check out the article from the April 28, 1951, issue of The Hockey News for more.)
With at least two more games to play in this final between the Panthers and the Oilers, there is a possibility that there could be another game that requires the extra frame.
That would give this series sole possession of the final with the second-most games that went to overtime and a chance to tie the 1951 Leafs and Canadiens record. And with that, we will quote Fifty Mission Cap by The Tragically Hip for some more information about that ’51 final and the player who scored the Cup-clincher.
“Bill Barilko disappeared that summer. He was on a fishing trip. The last goal he ever scored won the Leafs the Cup. They didn’t win another until 1962, the year he was discovered.”
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