Singing along to “Pink Pony Club” by Chappell Roan on a Sunday afternoon sure feels good, especially at the conclusion of a 6–1 Edmonton Oilers victory over the Dallas Stars—this doesn’t tell the entire tale of the tape, but gives enough insight all the same. This wasn’t dominant to the same level as 2017’s Game 6 versus Anaheim, or last year’s Game 4 versus Florida, but the Oilers took full advantage of the majority of the chances they were given to take, and extend, their lead in this game. In turn, they took a two games to one lead in the 2025 Western Conference Final.
This game remained close through the first 40 minutes, but unlike in Game 1, the Oilers powered this game through to the finish line. There’s a lot of good, and some bad, to dig into. Given the early start time for the game though, it’s overall a very good result.
McDavid makes his strongest impact of the playoffs
It’s wild to think that, coming into today’s contest, Connor McDavid had just three goals all playoffs. Yes, he still had a pile of assists and reached 20 points for the fourth consecutive playoffs last game, but there’s been times where it’s been fair to wonder if we had truly seen the Oilers captain at his absolute best.
He brought his best today, flying on nearly every shift and scoring two highlight reel-calibre goals. The first came as a result of a three-on-one situation where former Oiler and “Mr. Game 7” Cody Ceci was left to handle McDavid, Zach Hyman, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins in his own zone. Even with Jake Oettinger in goal, the result of this play was rather predictable.
His second goal came as the result of persistent hard work and determination. Late in the second period, after driving behind the net and appearing to attempt a wrap-around, McDavid carried on with the puck and gave it back to Evan Bouchard at the point. Under duress, Bouchard managed to not only hold the line, but give it right back to McDavid, who took the ice in front of him and unleashed a tricky wrist shot that wove its way through traffic, and past Oettinger.
With Leon Draisaitl and Mikko Rantanen each only tallying one assist, McDavid now takes sole possession of the scoring lead in the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs, with 22 points through 14 games. Today’s game was a statement game for McDavid, and might spell the most trouble for the Stars.
Oilers benefit from lucky breaks and rush chances
Let’s get one thing out of the way: yes, Brett Kulak should have been called for delay of game. Referee Kelly Sutherland didn’t have the greatest first period, as near the very end of it, he also misinterpreted Rantanen’s own stick being lifted into his face as Kasperi Kapanen high-sticking Rantanen. Missed and blown calls happen all the time.
The team that takes advantage of those opportunities the most almost always wins, though, and take advantage the Oilers did. Bouchard wasted no time scoring right after the missed delay-of-game, which was followed by McDavid’s eventual game-winner half a minute later. Nugent-Hopkins had assists on both of those, marking the first time in his career he’s had three straight multi-point playoff games.
Those two goals foreshadowed how the Oilers would get most of their tallies this afternoon: off the rush, not allowing Dallas to get set up or Oettinger to have enough time to react. Hyman would net two third-period goals in similar fashion to put the game out of reach for Edmonton. Punctuating those two goals was this absolutely sublime pass from Evander Kane on the latter of them.
Stuart Skinner has turned into a brick wall in net
The reason Stuart Skinner lost his starting job for six games earlier in the playoffs wasn’t necessarily because he was horrible in net, but because he was unable to go beyond making only the expected saves. A Stanley Cup Playoff goaltender sometimes will have to make unexpected saves to keep his team in the lead.
In the past two games especially, Skinner is making some big-time saves to not allow the Stars any chance of getting back to even a tie score. After a Curtis Joseph-esque save in Game 2, Skinner made several incredible saves in this game, as he faced far more shots this game (34) than any of the previous four he’s played. He was a major reason why the Oilers survived the Stars’ push through the first 19 minutes of the second period, and kept a 3–1 lead in the 3rd until Hyman was able to give them extra insurance.
This game gives similar vibes to Game 6 of last year’s Western Conference Final, in terms of goaltending being a major factor. Oettinger, in the Dallas net, finished this game with a .750 save percentage, while Skinner dazzled with a .971 on his own stat card. MoneyPuck’s stats paint a more stark picture, as Oettinger posted a -3.73 Goals Saved Above Expected, compared to Skinner’s +2.09 GSAx. This could easily have been a 3–2 Stars win, but Skinner did his part to make sure that didn’t happen.
Point shots
A couple of extra details, since this game was very eventful:
- John Klingberg tallied his first playoff goal against his former team to add insult to the injurious score for Dallas, becoming the 18th different Oiler to score a goal these playoffs. That puts these Oilers at the same level as the 2023 Vegas Golden Knights, in terms of that kind of balanced scoring.
- The Oilers forward group took their lumps in this one. Connor Brown exited after a high hit from former Oiler Alex Petrovic that appeared to make head contact, and did not return to the game. Nugent-Hopkins crashed hard into the end-boards after getting tangled up with Stars defenceman Lian Bichsel in the second period, and left the bench multiple times, but ultimately stayed in the game. Trent Frederic was taken down in the third period and collided hard with the goalpost; he needed an extra moment getting up after the fact.
What’s next for the Oilers
Game 4 of the Western Conference Final goes Tuesday night, at Rogers Place with a more standard 6:00pm MT start.
Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire
