The Oilers host the Stars on Sunday afternoon at Rogers Place in Game 3 of the Conference Final
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The Edmonton Oilers host the Dallas Stars in Game 3 of the Western Conference Final at Rogers Place on Sunday afternoon.
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The Oilers host the Stars in Game 3 on Sunday afternoon at Rogers Place
EDMONTON, AB – Over to you, Oil Country.
After earning the split in Dallas to tie the series at 1-1 and take over home-ice advantage, the Edmonton Oilers will try to utilize their home crowd on Sunday afternoon at Rogers Place when they host the Dallas Stars in Game 3 of the Western Conference Final.
“You come down to a city like this and they’re going to make it tough, so going home with a split is a good thing,” Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said post-game on Friday. “We now have home-ice advantage, so it’ll be a huge Game 3 in front of our crowd. That building is going to be electric. We know that, so it’s going to be a lot of fun to play there. The series is a long way from over, and we’ve got to dig in here and have a good day tomorrow and go from there.”
The Oilers are facing a quick turnaround to Game 3 with a full travel day on Saturday before jumping into a rare playoff matinée against the Stars the next afternoon, with morning skates or puck touches for either side between the 1:00 p.m. MDT puck drop and Edmonton’s 3-0 shutout in Game 2 on Friday.
“I’m very happy with the guys and how they came out in yesterday’s game, knowing its importance,” Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said Saturday morning. “Coming back to Edmonton down two would have been very difficult against this team. I think we’ve responded really well after losses for the most part, and we knew we needed a good effort to get that win.”
According to NHL Stats, the Oilers have hosted afternoon playoff games in franchise history (excluding the 2020 playoffs), which came in Game 6 of the 1997 Conference Quarterfinals against Dallas (noon local) and a year later in Game 3 of the 1998 Conference Quarterfinals against Colorado (4:00 pm local).
For McDavid, who’s never played in an afternoon playoff contest in his career, the majority of players who’ll be on the ice at Rogers Place on Sunday will be in a similar situation, so there’ll be no excuses from either Edmonton or Dallas to come out flat in Game 3 with the chance to take control in this series.
“I don’t think I’ve ever played a playoff matinée game, so everybody’s in the same boat,” McDavid said. “We gotta come out strong. We’re at home. I’m sure the crowd will be excited, so we’ll be ready. There’s no excuse. It doesn’t matter if you play five overtimes or have to play in two days. Whatever the case may be, everybody’s in the same boat.”
“I think whatever team’s ready to roll is going to have the advantage. It’s got to be us. We’ve got to make sure that we’re ready to go right from puck drop. It’s a long travel day tomorrow and a quick turnaround, so we’ve got to be ready.”
The Oilers blank the Stars in Game 2 to even up the WCF series
The Oilers responded to their tough 6-3 defeat in Game 1 on Wednesday after Stuart Skinner stopped all 25 shots in Game 2 on Friday to record his third shutout in his last four games. The netminder is 3-4-0 this postseason and has been unbeatable in his victories, but holds a 5.29 GAA and .817 SV% with 20 goals allowed in his four losses so far in these playoffs.
After giving up five unanswered goals to the Stars during the third period of Game 1, including three on the power play, Skinner and the Oilers penalty kill made the stops they needed in Game 2, combining with Edmonton’s continued strength at five-on-five to culminate in a veteran response on the road.
“There are a lot of things I liked,” Knoblauch said. “Definitely, I liked that we won the special teams battle in Game 2 with a power-play goal, and the penalty kill looked good. Stuart Skinner’s play has been tremendous in three of the four games, and then, we’ve been getting contributions from everyone, and everyone’s digging in and playing pretty well.”
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored on the power play for a second straight game to open the scoring, and Edmonton’s penalty kill turned aside a Dallas man advantage a few minutes later to earn an early stop shorthanded that helped settle their nerves from Wednesday’s tough turn of events.
Ryan & Stuart take questions after Friday’s 3-0 victory in Game 2
Brett Kulak and Connor Brown scored 1:13 apart in the middle frame to extend Edmonton’s advantage to 3-0 after 40 minutes – their second multi-goal lead of this series entering the third period after their two-goal advantage through two periods in Game 1 quickly evaporated thanks to the Dallas power play.
Skinner denied Wyatt Johnston on a breakaway early in the third period after Edmonton didn’t convert on a five-on-three opportunity before their penalty kill earned a stop when Darnell Nurse was assessed a slashing call on centre Roope Hintz that was reviewed for a major penalty.
The Oilers showed their collective ability to shut down the Stars and claim their third shutout in their last four games, which has been a byproduct of the team’s commitment to playing good defence and Skinner’s elevated performance since returning to the crease at the beginning of this series.
“We’re a different team than we have been in years past,” McDavid said. “Probably not as run and gun as we’ve been in years past, but I keep saying that we can play defence. Stu is great. A couple of breakdowns there that I didn’t like, especially in the third, but he was great. The forwards are coming back really hard, and everyone is selling out blocking shots at that time of year. That’s what it takes. That’s been fun to watch.”
