Three wins down, one win to go in the Western Conference Final as the Edmonton Oilers have swept the homestand and head back to Dallas with a chance to close out the series on Thursday evening. A 4–1 victory that, while convincing, was not without trouble and turmoil. The Dallas Stars dominated the first period after a slow start by the Oilers and the team may be without an important part of their forward group as Zach Hyman left early in the first after suffering an injury on a hit from Mason Marchment.
Nevertheless, everyone stepped up and filled in where they needed to. The forwards generated enough pressure to fix the lopsided shot differential. The defenders completely shut down and stifled any attempt at offence from the Stars right through to the end of the game. And Stuart Skinner, once again, stood tall in net as he continues his dominance over the past six games.
So far in this series, the Stars have been unable to properly break through the Oilers’ defence, especially at 5v5. In the past three games, Dallas has scored just two goals, one of which was on the powerplay. And in Game 1, where the Stars scored six, three of them were on the powerplay and the final goal was an empty netter. In four games, Dallas has three even strength goals. A testament to either how much Mikko Rantanen carried the team to this point, or how dominant the defensive structure of the Oilers is at this moment in time.
To recap this thrilling Game 4 victory, let’s take a look at three key takeaways from Tuesday night’s battle between the Oilers and Stars.
A slow start did not deter from the mission
The game did not get off to the start that the Oilers would have hoped. Early relentless pressure from the Stars left Edmonton hemmed in their own zone for minutes at a time. Dallas was throwing everything at the net, which led to an absurdly lopsided shot attempt differential in the first period, with the Stars having a 34–12 Corsi for ratio in that period alone on the way to outshooting Edmonton 16–10.
But the positive to take away from that? The Oilers left that period up 1–0. The high level defensive play that the Oilers have shown in recent games kept the Stars’ chances to the outside and limited anything that would be considered high danger. It was a suffocating level of pressure that was being applied by the Oilers defenders that helped them survive this early onslaught unscathed.
And once again, this team showed resilience and battle throughout the rest of the game. They did not get defeated after the start didn’t go their way. They turned the game around entirely by the second. In the final two periods, the Corsi differential favoured the Oilers 32–19 and shots 23–13.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins at his best
It has been a season of ups-and-downs for the darling of Oil Country. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has struggled at times this season, but in this particular series, he has been playing some of the best hockey he has played in the last two seasons. Through four games, all of which have been multi-point games, he has nine points. In the playoffs, Nugent-Hopkins has five goals and 18 points in 15 games, sitting fourth in playoff scoring.
He tallied two more assists in this game, highlighted by this astute play to set up Corey Perry on the powerplay for what turned into the game-winning goal.
His consistency has been remarkable in the post-season as well. He has a point in all but four of the 15 games the team has played, being held off the scoresheet only in the first two games against the Los Angeles Kings and the final two games versus the Vegas Golden Knights.
The Nuge has been huge in these playoffs, and he has been leading the charge in the influx of depth scoring the Oilers have benefitted greatly from thus far in the playoffs.
Mr. Game 4
Isn’t this just one of the best and most obscure stats around? Stuart Skinner is basically a game four legend, and he kept it up in this game too. One goal against on 29 shots for the Dallas Stars. He had good numbers in Game 4 coming into this one, and now they’ve only gotten better.
Whatever energy that Skinner channels specifically for game fours is something the team needs to study and spread around.
Skinner’s performance in game four was commendable. He kept the team in the game early by making the saves he needed to make. The team is now able to play with some confidence in front of him. They can rely on him to fill his role so the skaters can focus on theirs and play with a bit of swagger, take a few risks in the hopes that they pan out.
Skinner’s Game 5 stat line is not nearly as glamourous, but it will suffice for our purposes. We know the Oilers have an exceptional record in games four through seven of playoff series’ in the last three seasons, up now to 21–4 since the 2023 playoffs. And Skinner has been a part in that, boasting a 5–1 record in Game 5s. He has 14 goals allowed in those six games, with a save percentage of .904. A bit lower than his Game 4 stat line, but still serviceable enough for the team.
What’s next for the Edmonton Oilers?
As we await news on Zach Hyman’s injury on Wednesday morning, the team will be settling back in in Dallas to prepare for Game 5 on Thursday evening. The lines might look wildly different with another forward injured. And before the series started, Game 5 was mentioned as the earliest we would see Mattias Ekholm return. With Ekholm’s status for Game 4 listed as undecided until the morning of the game, he is getting close and it is only a matter of time until we get the much-anticipated announcement that he will be back and the lines go through another shuffle.
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