The Edmonton Oilers overcame an early deficit to drop the Dallas Stars 5-2 Wednesday night at Rogers Place. The best-of-seven Western Conference Final is tied 2-2.
“They’re a great team,” Oilers forward Connor Brown said of the Stars after the game. “They’re going to grab momentum at times in this series — it’s about what we do to go grab it back.
“We had guys jumping over the boards trying to get that momentum back.”
The Stars scored on the game’s first shot when Wyatt Johnston wired a shot past Stuart Skinner’s glove on a two-on-one.
Less than five minutes later, Esa Lindell’s point shot was going well wide but struck Darnell Nurse’s posterior and deflected past Skinner.
The Oilers responded with two goals in 2:37.
“We responded well and kept our foot on the pedal and just kept plugging away. It was a great win,” Oilers forward Corey Perry said.
Oilers forward Ryan McLeod, back in action after being scratched in Game 3, popped a rebound past Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger for his first of the playoffs.
Then Oilers defenceman Evan Bouchard buried the rebound of a Connor McDavid shot to make it 2-2.
The Oilers’ exceptional penalty-killing unit made a big impact in the second. Brown set up Mattias Janmark for a shorthanded goal on a two-on-one as the Oilers killed off their 22nd consecutive minor.
“I believe that shorthanded goal was the game-winning goal,” Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said.
“No matter who we’ve had in the lineup, we’ve had a lot of guys in and out (of the penalty killing units) … but everyone’s stepped up and taken a lot of pride in that job.”
Just 51 seconds later, Leon Draisaitl snapped his 10th past Oettinger’s blocker.
The Oilers’ penalty kill made it 23 in a row in the third, negating a tripping call against Zach Hyman.
“We’ve been confident lately,” Janmark said about Edmonton’s penalty kill.
“We got them a little bit on their heels today.”
The Stars pulled Oettinger for an extra attacker with 2:44 left. Oilers defenceman Mattias Ekholm hit the empty net with 1:53 on the clock.
Skinner earned the win with 20 saves. Oettinger stopped 24.
McDavid had three assists.
Game 5 is Friday in Dallas. You can listen to the game live on 630 CHED, beginning with The Faceoff Show at 4:30 p.m. The actual game starts at 6:30 p.m.