The Oilers can advance to the Stanley Cup Final with a victory over the Stars on Thursday night in Game 5 of the Western Conference Final at American Airlines Center
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The Edmonton Oilers can advance to the Stanley Cup Final with a victory over the Dallas Stars on Thursday night in Game 5 of the Western Conference Final at American Airlines Center.
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Skinner & Nugent-Hopkins help the Oilers push the Stars to the brink
DALLAS, TX – Throughout the entire playoffs, the Edmonton Oilers have embraced their ‘next man up’ mentality to put themselves one victory away from advancing to their second straight Stanley Cup Final at the expense of the Dallas Stars.
In Thursday’s elimination Game 5 of the Western Conference Final at American Airlines Center, the Blue & Orange’s depth will face its stiffest test yet when they attempt to knock out a desperate Stars team while missing one of their best players in Zach Hyman for the remainder of the postseason.
“There are going to be times when guys are banged up, and that’s part of the game,” Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. “Right now, we’re missing some guys who are unavailable to play. Obviously, Zach’s going to be a huge hole, but we’re fortunate to have a lot of depth where guys can come in and step up and give us quality minutes.”
Hyman underwent surgery on Wednesday after leaving in the first period of Tuesday’s 4-1 victory for the Oilers in Game 4 with an upper-body injury he sustained on a check from Stars forward Mason Marchment.
After trying to get past Stars defenceman Esa Lindell while carrying the puck out of the zone, Hyman was clipped on the right shoulder by Marchment, immediately dropping his stick before exiting down the tunnel favouring his right arm.
“We’ll just leave it as upper body,” Knoblauch said. “It will be a while, so we’re not expecting him back for the playoffs.”
The 32-year-old was coming off a massive performance in Edmonton’s 6-1 victory in Game 3 at Rogers Place by scoring two goals and adding an assist to go along with a plus-five rating and 10 hits, but finished with only 3:11 of ice time over five shifts in Game 4 on Tuesday.
It’s a significant blow for the Oilers losing their fifth leading scorer of the playoffs in Hyman, who had recorded five goals and six assists in 15 games and the League’s leader in hits with 111 before Wednesday’s tough news amidst what’s been a reat response to their 6-3 defeat in the opening game of the series.
Hyman had never missed a playoff game for the Oilers since joining the club in July of 2021, contributing 35 goals and 25 assists in 52 contests.
Kris provides an update on Hyman’s injury before the team’s flight
“He’s put everything out there,” Knoblauch said. “You look at everything he’s done over the last two years. Last year, he scored about 70 goals and had numerous big, important goals in the playoffs. This year, he’s scored key goals, but the physical department, how many hits he had and his two-way play were tremendous.”
“And now that we’re going to be missing him, we’ll need other guys to step up.”
While Hyman’s presence and impact will be hard to replace, it won’t be difficult for Knoblauch to find willing and capable fill-ins on this roster after saying it’s been difficult during this postseason to justify making changes to a lineup that’s been performing at a high level with 10 wins in their last 13 playoff games.
Across all areas of the ice, it’s been their depth that has been one of the main reasons why they’ve reached this point for a second straight playoffs.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has been the best player of the Conference Final among both teams by assembling a career-best five-game playoff point streak of two goals and seven assists, including four multi-point games, after recording helpers on goals from Leon Draisaitl and Corey Perry in Game 4 on Tuesday.
Draisaitl is riding a five-game point streak (2G, 6A) after netting his 13th career opening goal in the playoffs, while Corey Perry continues to outperform expectations by registering the game-winning tally for his sixth goal of the postseason to go with an assist as a major contributor in Edmonton’s last win.
Oilers captain Connor McDavid is also riding a four-game point streak (2G, 5A) and leads the Stanley Cup Playoffs in points (24) and assists (19).
Goaltender Stuart Skinner has been sensational in this series to outduel Jake Oettinger in the opposite crease after stopping 28 of 29 shots in Game 4, earning his fifth win of the postseason to improve his save percentage over three straight victories to .977 with two shutouts.
Skinner has a 0.39 GAA and .985 SV% in his five wins this postseason, but a 5.29 GAA & .817 SV% in his four defeats – two of which were in the First Round before he gave way to Calvin Pickard in Game 3 against Los Angeles to string together six wins in a row.
Draisaitl & Perry with a goal & an assist each in the Game 4 victory
Following Viktor Arvidsson’s return in Game 4 in place of Connor Brown, it’ll likely be Jeff Skinner’s turn to come back into the lineup on Thursday as the forward to replace Zach Hyman after appearing only once in this postseason in Game 1 of the First Round against the Kings.
Like every roster tweak made before him, Arvidsson’s addition represented another impactful change at the right time for the Oilers, joining a list this postseason that includes Calvin Pickard (six wins), Stuart Skinner (five-of-seven victories and two shutouts), Troy Stecher (impactful defence) and Kasperi Kapanen (series-clinching goal in the Second Round).
The Swedish forward is looking to build on his performance against Dallas in Game 4 in hopes of being the solution to Edmonton’s problem on the right side at forward in the absence of Hyman.
“I think he did really well,” Knoblauch said. “He hadn’t played for a couple of weeks, and to come into an environment like that against a good team at this point of the season, he just continued to get better. In the third period, he might have been one of our best forwards. He had quality shots, won a lot of puck races, and made some nice plays, so Viktor’s game was what I expected.
“He played the way we want him to play, and we’ll need more of that from Viktor, because with missing guys, especially on the right side with Hyman, that’s an opportunity for him to step up and play a more significant role.”
Knoblauch also confirmed that Brown will miss a second straight game, but he hopes that his return will come quickly after he joined the team on the road to Dallas despite his injury from a hit delivered by Alex Petrovic in Game 3 of the series. Mattias Ekholm is close to making his 2025 playoff debut and could slot back in as part of an 11-and-seven combination for Hyman or in a traditional 12-and-six deployment as a direct swap on the blueline for Stecher.
Having turned resilience into resounding wins in this postseason, the Oilers aren’t worried about anything beyond Game 5 of the Western Final on Thursday, despite being one win away from a rematch in the Stanley Cup Final against the Florida Panthers after they eliminated the Carolina Hurricanes in five games.
“We have a good record when we’ve been in those situations,” Knoblauch said. “I’m confident with our guys being mature. They’re experienced. They don’t get too high or too low. It’s not that they would ever think that we’ve got this under wraps. That is definitely never the case with this team.
“They know how hard it is to win that last deciding game, and they also have a lot of respect for the Dallas Stars, knowing that they’re a good team who can certainly turn it up. They turned around a series in the first round against Colorado.”

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