Oilers Third Period Comebacks in 2025 NHL Playoffs

Wednesday night’s Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals not only met the hype of the highly anticipated Edmonton/Florida rematch, but it exceeded it. 

Leon Draisaitl gave the Oilers a 1-0 series lead off a power-play goal with a little more than thirty seconds remaining in the first overtime period, finishing off a comeback for an Edmonton team that was facing a 3-1 deficit two minutes into the second period. 

The Oilers have had four comeback wins from down one or more goals in the third period this postseason, beating out the 1987-88 team, which had three 1+ goal third-period comebacks en route to a Stanley Cup. 

Twelve other teams have also achieved this feat, including, most recently, this year’s Dallas Stars. But only four teams have done it five times in the playoffs. 

With that in mind, here’s a look back at Edmonton’s three previous comeback wins in these playoffs. 

Round 1, Game 4 vs Kings

In Game 4 of the Oilers’ previous ‘rematch’ series this playoffs, Edmonton entered the third period down 3-1, and Los Angeles had a strong chance to put their perennial boogeymen down 3-1 in the series score as well. 

The Kings got their first goal from forward Trevor Moore at 10:35 of the first period. Then in the second, they got another from Warren Foegele. The Oilers’ Corey Perry cut into the lead with a power-play goal three minutes after Foegele’s, but three minutes after that, Los Angeles struck again with a goal from Kevin Fiala. 

Edmonton, down two, started the third period on fire, out-shooting the Kings 6-3 before finding a goal. 

In a frantic sequence eight minutes into the period, Drasaitl sent a shot towards the net, which was blocked by the skate of Los Angeles defenseman Drew Doughty. 

Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard skated his way towards Doughty, collecting the awkward rebound and quickly firing it past Darcy Kuemper’s glove before the goalie could even notice to cut the Kings’ lead in half.

With an extra attacker in the final minute of regulation, the Oilers found a goal from Bouchard, once again set up by Draisaitl. With Bouchard roaming up near the blue line, Draisaitl cycled it back over to the defenseman, and he fired it, this time squeezing it past Kuemper’s stick. 

In overtime, both teams traded chances for the better part of 19 minutes before Draisaitl sent in a rebound from a Ryan Nugent-Hopkins shot to give Edmonton the win. 

The Oilers would win another two straight after tying the series to move on to the second round. 

Round 2, Game 1 vs Golden Knights

In Game 1 of Edmonton’s second-round series against Las Vegas, they once again found themselves in a big hole in the third period. 

Golden Knights captain Mark Stone started the game off with a goal off a deflection two minutes into the first period. Stone added another off a wrister seven minutes later to give Vegas a 2-0 lead. 

As Perry had done in Game 4 against the Kings, he halved the lead with a wrister at 16:26 of the first. 

The Oilers couldn’t convert on any of their 12 shots in the second period. They also wasted two power-play opportunities past the halfway point of the middle period. 

But once the final period of regulation began, it took less than a minute for Draisaitl to find an equalizer off a backhand shot. McDavid fired a shot from way down near the blue line, which was deflected up into the air by the stick of Vegas’ Tanner Pearson. 

Knights goalie Adin Hill reached up into the air to try to grab the puck, but sent it down towards the ice, where Draisaitl collected it and fired it into the net.  

Then, Edmonton forward Zach Hyman got the lead for the Oilers off a snap shot with a little under four minutes in regulation. Connor Brown put the exclamation point on Edmonton’s win with a wrister at the 18:14 mark of the game.

Round 2, Game 2 vs Golden Knights

Two days later, the Oilers found themselves in a similar situation. This time, they started with a big lead, which they lost, but eventually regained in overtime. 

The game began with a 1-0 Vegas lead from a Victor Olofsson snapshot early that sailed into the right corner above Calvin Pickard’s blocker in the first period. 

In the second period, Edmonton got an avalanche of goals first from Jake Walman, then Vasily Podkolzin, and Darnell Nurse. 

From there, with a 3-1 lead on the scoreboard, the Oilers kind of fell asleep. Knights forward William Karlsson cut Edmonton’s lead in half with a tip-in late in the second. Evander Kane put the Oilers back up two early in the third, but then Edmonton allowed two goals from Vegas, first from Olofsson again, and then Alex Pietrangelo. 

Despite a few solid chances for both teams in the final period of regulation, the game headed into overtime. 

With five minutes left in the extra period a similar story played out again a wrister from Draisaitl, assisted by McDavid and Perry, won the game for Edmonton. 

Game 2 represented the Golden Knights best chance to give themselves a real shot at the series but their comeback was met with another comeback from the Oilers.