The Edmonton Oilers are one win away from a return trip to the Stanley Cup Final after shutting down the Dallas Stars 4-1 in Game 4 of the Western Conference Final at Rogers Place on Tuesday night.
Corey Perry, playing in his 230th Stanley Cup Playoff game, the most of any player in the 21st century, broke a 1-1 tie at 9:20 of the second period. Goalie Stuart Skinner and the Oilers made the 2-1 lead stand up until Kasperi Kapanen and Adam Henrique put the game away with empty-net goals after the Stars pulled goalie Jake Oettinger with 2:43 remaining.
The Oilers lead the best-of-7 series 3-1. A win in Game 5 at Dallas on Thursday will send them to the Stanley Cup Final in back-to-back years for the first time since 1987 and 1988, when they won their third and fourth championships in a five-year span. The Final could be a rematch of last year’s championship round, when the Oilers lost to the Florida Panthers in seven games. The Panthers can advance to the Final on Wednesday by defeating the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final.
“It’s one game at a time. And one period at a time,” Perry said. “You can’t look too far ahead.”
The Oilers are 9-0 in Game 4s during their past three playoff runs. Second-year coach Kris Knoblauch is now 7-0.
Skinner won his third straight start by keeping the Oilers afloat until his teammates showed up – he stopped all 16 shots he faced in the first period and 28 for the game. Jason Robertson’s power-play goal at 6:57 of the second period was just the second goal Skinner’s allowed in the past three games.
“They definitely brought it on,” Skinner said. “I felt good out there. I’m just trying to give my team the best chance out there that I possibly can every night. They’re going to get their chances; they’re a fantastic team. How we’ve responded to that has been really, really excellent.
“I think as the game went on, we started playing better. They had a ton of momentum in that whole first period, (and) a little of the second, starting with that power play. Then we catch a goal, we get some momentum and we try to keep it the rest of the way.”
The Stars, who’ve scored just twice in their past four road games, will be trying to do something they’ve never done since entering the NHL as the Minnesota North Stars. They’ve lost all 16 times they’ve trailed 3-1 in a best-of-7 playoff series.
“I loved our first period, other than I thought we missed the net too much (16 times). We have to make it a little bit tougher and make sure we’re hitting he net in those situations,” Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said. “But to play a period like that and not get out even or up — we’re actually down a goal — is a tough spot.”
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Oilers top Stars 4-1, move within one win of Stanley Cup Final
The Stars dominated the first period everywhere but on the scoreboard. Unfortunately for them, that’s the only place that counts, and the Stars skated into the first intermission down 1-0 after allowing the first goal for the fourth time in 17 games this spring.
Dallas had by far the better of play for most of the opening period. The Stars outshot the Oilers 17-10, out-attempted them 38-16 and were 14-6 in the face-off circle – including a draw with less than three seconds left that forced Skinner to make a terrific shoulder save on Mikko Rantanen.
The Oilers, already without Connor Brown, lost their first-line right wing when Zach Hyman left midway through the period after a neutral-zone hit to the right shoulder by Stars forward Mason Marchment. But playing without one of their top forwards didn’t prevent the Oilers from grabbing the lead at 11:23.
With Stars captain Jamie Benn in the box for tripping, Draisaitl scored from his “office,” wide in the right circle below the face-off dot, with a perfect shot over Oettinger’s pad.
The rest of the period saw Dallas control the pace and shoot from everywhere – but score from nowhere. The Stars ended the period down 1-0 despite a 24-10 advantage in scoring chances and a 6-3 edge in high-danger chances, according to Natural Stat Trick.
Dallas began the second period by failing to score on its second power play. But the Stars tied it at 6:57 by cashing in on their third chance. With Perry off for interference, Robertson beat Skinner from the slot to make it 1-1.
However, Perry atoned for his penalty by putting the Oilers back in front with their second power-play goal after an offensive zone interference penalty to Marchment. The 40-year-old rolled off his check and was alone in front with his stick in the right place to redirect Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ perfect pass for his 60th playoff goal. He’s now tied for fourth among active players.
The Oilers killed off a tripping penalty to Mattias Janmark less than a minute later and began to take over more of the play. That trend continued into the third period, when they completely stifled the Stars, outshooting the Stars 13-4, and holding a 9-3 edge in scoring chances (4-2 on high-danger chances), according to Natural Stat Trick.
3 takeaways from Oilers’ Game 4 victory over Stars in West Final
1. Nugent-Hopkins keeps piling up points
“Nuge” takes a back seat offensively on a team with megastars like Draisaitl and Connor McDavid. But he’s been the Oilers best offensive player in this series, putting up multiple points for the fourth time in as many games and earning First Star honors.
He had two primary assists in Game 4, dishing off to Draisaitl for the game’s first goal and making a perfect move to get free and find Perry’s stick for what proved to be the winning goal. For the series, he has nine points – two goals and seven primary assists.
“Nuggy’s been outstanding for us,” Skinner said.
Nugent-Hopkins is the first player in 35 years to have four straight multi-point games in a conference final. No Oiler has had this kind of start in a conference final since Wayne Gretzky, who had 10 points through four games of the 1988 Campbell Conference Final against the Detroit Red Wings.
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2. Super Skinner shows up again
Skinner’s play in the first 1 1/2 periods was the reason the Oilers even had a chance to win this game. His 28 saves give him 86 stops on 88 shots during the Oilers’ wins in Games 2-4. During that time, he has a .977 save percentage with two shutouts.
The Stars were all over the Oilers for most of the first 30 minutes, but Skinner’s play limited them to one goal – Robertson’s power-play shot from the slot that he had no chance on.
Skinner was flawless after the Oilers went ahead 2-1 on Perry’s goal, though he got plenty of help from his teammates in the final 20 minutes.
“Going into the third period, 2-1 lead, it’s easy to back off and play it safe,” Skinner said. “The way that we competed, we got pucks in deep and we just got to work.”
His turnaround is one of the most amazing in playoff history. He lost the starting job to Calvin Pickard after getting bombed by the Los Angeles Kings in the first two games of the opening round. Pickard was 6-0 and would undoubtedly still be the starter had he not gotten hurt in Game 2 of the second round against the Vegas Golden Knights.
Skinner has three shutouts and two one-goal efforts in his past six games.
He “has been incredible when we needed him to be,” Draisaitl said, “and our third period was really well played.”
3. Mikko Rantanen is MIA again, and so is Stars offense
The absence of scoring from Rantanen and the first line has stopped the Stars offense in its tracks because most of the bottom three lines have done almost nothing all spring, especially in this series. Benn, Evgeni Dadonov and Matt Duchene each has one goal in 17 playoff games. Wyatt Johnston is pointless in his past seven games, and he’s minus-18, the worst mark in the playoffs – Duchene (minus-15) is second-worst.
The Stars have allowed the first goal in all four games against Edmonton and in 14 of their 17 games in this year’s playoffs. They’ve been outscored 10-0 in the first period of their eight road games this spring.
The Stars gave up a lot to get Rantanen from Carolina prior to the trade deadline, and he came through in the first round against the Colorado Avalanche and the first four games against the Winnipeg Jets. But since then, he’s contributed just three assists – and no one has picked up the slack.
Rantanen’s scoring touch, which produced nine goals in a seven-game span, has disappeared. He’s gone seven straight games without scoring. He’s the most dynamic offensive player, but he’s been bottled up by the Oilers in this series, contributing just two secondary assists – the second one on Robertson’s goal in Game 4.
Not that Rantanen’s giving up on himself or his team.
“So, now we go on home ice and it’s just one game at a time,” he said. “I don’t even think really what the series is. It’s just try to win one game and come back to Alberta.”
Mentioned in this article: Dallas Stars Edmonton Oilers Stanley Cup