Hyman leaves with injury in 1st period for Edmonton, which has won 3 straight
Stars at Oilers | Recap | WCF, Game 4
EDMONTON — Leon Draisaitl and Corey Perry each had a goal and an assist for the Edmonton Oilers, who pushed the Dallas Stars to the brink with a 4-1 win in Game 4 of the Western Conference Final at Rogers Place on Tuesday.
The Oilers lead the best-of-7 series 3-1. They will have a chance to advance to the Stanley Cup Final for the second straight season in Game 5 in Dallas on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; ESPN+, ESPN, SN, TVAS, CBC).
“You know that they’re going to be pushing. They’ve got a fantastic team, they’ve got guys who can really skate, they’re dangerous off the rush,” Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner said. “You can keep talking about how amazing their team is. Even though it is 3-1, we have a lot more work to do.
“You know for a fact that when they are at home they’re going to be giving a really big push. We’re going to be ready.”
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Connor McDavid each had two assists, and Skinner made 28 saves for the Oilers, who are the No. 3 seed from the Pacific Division.
Zach Hyman left the game with an undisclosed injury at 9:17 of the first period. While carrying the puck out of his own zone, he tried to get past Stars defenseman Esa Lindell before taking a hit to the right shoulder from Mason Marchment.
“He’s a top player for us,” Oilers defenseman Brett Kulak said. “It’s tough to lose anybody, but he brings an element to the game and to our team that not many guys around the League can bring to their teams.
“So, it’s tough to see him leave and hopefully it’s all right.”
Jason Robertson scored, and Jake Oettinger made 29 saves for the Stars, who are the No. 2 seed from the Central Division.
“A little bit of the same story, just can’t get that lead,” Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said. “I loved our first period even though we had, I think, 15 missed shots. So, we’ve got to make it a little bit tougher and make sure we’re hitting nets in those situations. But really, to play a period like that and not get out even or up, you’re actually down a goal, is a tough spot.
“And the other story is obviously the penalty kill. We’ve got to get a kill tonight, that’s the difference in the game. First period, not capitalizing, and then not stopping their power play.”
Dallas has been outscored 13-2 in the past three games.
“I feel like we’ve done everything but fill the net,” Stars forward Tyler Seguin said. “… I think we deserved a little bit better, but playoffs don’t necessarily care about what you deserve, right? You’ve got to force the bounces and make the bounces happen.”
DAL@EDM, Gm4: Draisaitl rips one home on the power play to get things started in the 1st
Draisaitl put Edmonton ahead 1-0 on a power play at 11:23 of the first period. He passed the puck to Nugent-Hopkins in the slot before getting it right back for a one-timer from his usual spot in the bottom of the right circle.
Robertson tied it 1-1 with his own power-play goal at 6:57 of the second period. He took a pass from Thomas Harley at the top of the right circle and beat Skinner over his right shoulder through a screen.
“The start of the game reminded me of the second period in Game 3, when we were on them and creating chances almost every shift and they still come out and get the first goal,” Stars forward Mikko Rantanen said. “So, that’s the frustrating part, but this is not the time of year to get frustrated. You’ve just got to reset and go back at it.”
DAL@EDM, Gm5: Perry buries Nugent-Hopkins feed for PPG
Perry scored another power-play goal to put the Oilers back in front 2-1 at 9:20 of the second. Nugent-Hopkins toe-dragged Stars defenseman Cody Ceci down low before sending a cross-crease pass to Perry for a tap-in at the right post.
Kasperi Kapanen (17:33) and Adam Henrique (19:10) each scored an empty-net goal in the third period for the 4-1 final.
Edmonton outshot Dallas 13-4 in the third.
“You guys ask us about our checking and defensive play all the time. Those guys can defend,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “They’re good at it and good when it matters most, in the third period holding the lead. There’s a lot of older guys with playoff experience, they know what it takes to win hockey games.
“We’re getting a lot of saves out of Stu, and when a goalie makes a lot of saves, you often forget about what happened for that scoring chance. There were some mistakes, and there will always be some mistakes, but when the goalie is playing at the top of his game, it alleviates your memory of those mistakes.”
NOTES: Nugent-Hopkins extended his multipoint streak to four games (two goals, seven assists). He is the seventh player in NHL history to record multiple points in each of the first four games of the round before the Final. … The Oilers opened the scoring for the seventh consecutive game, tying the longest postseason run in their history. … Draisaitl became the fourth player in Oilers history to score at least 20 career power-play goals in the postseason, joining Wayne Gretzky (23), Jari Kurri (22) and Glenn Anderson (22). … Perry became the fifth active player to score at least 60 career playoff goals, joining Alex Ovechkin (77), Sidney Crosby (71), Evgeni Malkin (67) and Brad Marchand (60) … McDavid has recorded a multipoint performance in more than 50 percent of his postseason games (45 of 89).
FLA vs. CAR | EDM vs. DAL
FLA vs. TOR | CAR vs. WSH | DAL vs. WPG | EDM vs. VGK
OTT vs. TOR | FLA vs. TBL | MTL vs. WSH | NJD vs. CAR
STL vs. WPG | COL vs. DAL | MIN vs. VGK | EDM vs. LAK
