Edmonton, Canada—The Edmonton Oilers were on the verge of a disappointing night at home against the Dallas Stars in Game 4 of the NHL’s Western Conference final. With their team down two goals and yet to register a shot on goal midway through the first period, it seemed like they might fade away before the night was over.
Oilers Coach Kris Knoblauch acknowledged that “didn’t look very good” at the time. However, in a series characterized by momentum swings—Edmonton had previously blown a two-goal lead and lost in Game 3—the home side remained far from out of the game.
A string of solid shifts eventually turned the tide for the Oilers. They managed to claw back into the match, tying the score before the period was over, and weathered pressure applied by the Stars. This has set up a best-of-three scenario for a place in the Stanley Cup Final.
Mattias Janmark and Leon Draisaitl scored in quick succession during the second period, as the Oilers went on to beat the Stars 5–2 and even the series. The next game is scheduled for Friday night in Dallas.
We were a little sleepy,” said Draisaitl, explaining their slow start. Found our legs, got going a little bit, started to play our game.
Janmark managed to tie it up with a short-handed 2-on-1 break alongside Connor Brown, while Draisaitl added his tenth goal of the postseason shortly after. Ryan McLeod, Evan Bouchard, and Mattias Ekholm, who scored into an empty net with just over one minute remaining on the clock, also found the back of the net for Edmonton. Connor McDavid provided two assists, while goaltender Stuart Skinner made 20 saves.
This isn’t supposed to be easy,” remarked Stars Coach Pete DeBoer.
Wyatt Johnson and Esa Lindell scored as Dallas raced to a 2–0 lead in the first 5½ minutes. McLeod and Bouchard countered for Edmonton later in the period. Skinner made a crucial stop on Evgenii Dadonov after the tying burst, keeping the momentum firmly with the Oilers.
The Stars earned their second power play with eight minutes left in regulation but were unable to capitalize. Instead, it was the Oilers who killed their 23rd consecutive penalty before Ekholm secured the win with an empty-netter.
Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger stopped 24 shots during the game.
Johnston scored his ninth goal of the playoffs just 58 seconds into the match when he fired the puck past Skinner on the first shot of the night. The crowd sarcastically cheered as Edmonton finally managed to get their first shot more than eight minutes into the first period.
It’s funny in the playoffs how the psychology works,” Janmark remarked about blown leads, “We were in the opposite position two days ago. It’s hard to explain.
The Oilers made three lineup changes for this game, inserting defenseman Philip Broberg alongside McLeod and fellow forward Corey Perry. Vincent Desharnais, Warren Foegele, and Sam Carrick were the players who found themselves benched as a result of these adjustments.
Standout Stars defenseman Chris Tanev left the match in the second period due to a lower-body injury. He was unable to return to the game and Coach DeBoer said he had “fingers crossed” that Tanev would be available for Game 5.