The Edmonton Oilers held off a furious late rally to defeat the Florida Panthers 5-3 and keep their dreams of an improbable Stanley Cup Final comeback alive on Tuesday.

The Oilers, down 3-0 after the first three games of the best-of-seven series, built on the momentum from their 8-1 thrashing of Florida on Saturday to claim a hard-fought road win.

The Oilers now have the chance to level the series with a victory on their home ice in Edmonton in game six on Friday.

Edmonton are bidding to become only the second team in ice hockey history to overturn a 3-0 series deficit to lift the Stanley Cup after Toronto achieved the feat in 1942.

Connor McDavid's second goal of the night in the dying seconds sealed a pulsating victory for the Oilers, who are hoping to end Canada's 31-year wait for a Stanley Cup champion.

Connor Brown fired the short-handed Oilers into the lead after just 5min 30, snaffling possession near halfway during a Florida power play before coolly rounding Sergei Bobrovsky and tucking away the finish.

The Oilers doubled their lead early in the second period with a power-play goal.

They held firm after McDavid's second goal of the night, an empty-netter, ensured a game six on Saturday morning at eight, Hong Kong time. (AFP)