EDMONTON, Alberta — The Edmonton Oilers are one win away from a return trip to the Stanley Cup Final.
Leon Draisaitl and Corey Perry each had a power-play goal and an assist and the Oilers took a commanding lead in the Western Conference final series with a 4-1 victory over the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night.
Kasperi Kapanen and Adam Henrique added empty-net goals, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Connor McDavid each had two assists for the Oilers took a 3-1 lead in the series by winning three consecutive games after a third-period collapse cost them the opening game in Dallas. Since that game, Edmonton has outscored Dallas 13-2.
Draisaitl said it was far from easy in Game 4.
“There are going to be some swings in a series. They’re one of the last four teams standing, so they’re going to have their push, and there’s going to be periods where they control the play. That’s just the way it is,” Draisaitl said.
“But I think we’ve managed it really well. (goalie Stuart Skinner) has been incredible when we needed him to be, and our third period was really well-played.”
The Oilers are now 9-0 in Game 4s over their past three playoff runs.
Skinner continued to shine in the Edmonton net, making 28 saves in the win.
“How we all played as a team was fantastic and shows a lot of courage, the way that guys are blocking shots,” Skinner said. “For myself, it definitely felt good out there. I’m just trying to give my team the best chance that I possibly can every night.”
Arcadia product Jason Robertson scored for the Stars, who are in danger of being eliminated in the West final by the Oilers for the second year in a row.
“It’s time to reset again, it’s not over until somebody wins four games,” said Stars forward Mikko Rantanen, who has been held scoreless for seven straight games after scoring nine goals in the six previous games. “So, now we go on home ice and it’s just one game at a time. I mean, I don’t even think really what the series is, it’s just try to win one game and come back to Alberta.”
Jake Oettinger recorded 29 stops while taking the loss in the Dallas net, falling to 5-11 in his career in West final contests.
After surviving a flurry of Dallas chances to start the game, the Oilers started the scoring on the power play with 8:37 to play in the opening period as Nugent-Hopkins kept up his hot play in the series, feeding it to Draisaitl who beat Oettinger with a one-timer from a bad angle for his seventh of the playoffs.
There was some cause for concern for Edmonton in the first frame, however, as forward Zach Hyman took an open ice hit from Mason Marchment and left the game with an upper-body injury and did not return.
The Stars tied the game at 1-1 seven minutes into the second period on a nice power-play passing play as Robertson picked the top corner on Skinner for his second goal of the playoffs in as many games.
Edmonton regained the lead on another power play as Nugent-Hopkins made a perfect pass to Perry for an easy tap-in for his sixth, making him just the fifth player aged 40 and older to score in a conference final.
It was Nugent-Hopkins’ fourth consecutive multipoint performance, becoming the first player in 35 years to accomplish that feat in a conference final, and the first Oiler to have nine or more points through the first four games of a conference final since Wayne Gretzky 37 years ago.
Stars forward Roope Hintz returned to the lineup after missing a game. He was helped off the ice late in the third period of Game 2 after being slashed on the top of the left foot by Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse.
HYMAN EXITS
Hyman has lowered the boom on opponents all spring.
The Oilers’ workhorse winger led the NHL by a wide margin with 109 playoff hits entering Tuesday night.
Hyman found himself on the receiving end early in Game 4 and it didn’t look good after he took a glancing hit from Marchment coming out of the defensive zone.
He dropped his stick, clearly favoring his right arm, and made a beeline for the bench before heading to Edmonton’s locker room with the team’s medical staff.
Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch didn’t have a postgame update.
“Everyone stepped up,” he added. “Go through the lineup … I liked how everyone just played a little bit better.”
Knoblauch distributed Hyman’s minutes among his forward depth, with both Trent Frederic and Perry seeing time on captain Connor McDavid’s wing through two periods.
Edmonton’s bench boss then leaned heavily on Draisaitl in the third by double-shifting the big center as Edmonton squeezed the life out of Dallas.
“You’re not just going to make that up,” Draisaitl, who had a goal and an assist, said of Hyman’s absence. “But collectively, I think we have what it takes to make up for it.”
Hyman started the night with 27 more postseason hits than Florida Panthers center Sam Bennett to go along with five goals and six assists.
Hyman, who added two more hits to his tally before exiting Tuesday, scored 54 times last season before adding 16 more in the playoffs as part of the Oilers’ run to the final, where they lost to Florida in seven games.
A free-agent signing in the summer of 2021 after six seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Hyman had 27 goals and 17 assists for 44 points across 73 games in 2024-25.
“It’s a big loss,” said Nugent-Hopkins, who has nine points in the series. “He’s a big part of our team, on and off the ice, the way he does things. You’ve seen his physicality.
“It’s important to our game, but other guys have already stepped up and tried to fill that gap.”
The Oilers more than doubled the Stars with 50 hits Tuesday. Vasily Podkolzin led the way with eight, while Kasperi Kapanen added seven. Knoblauch also pointed to the reunited line of Podkolzin, Mattias Janmark and Viktor Arvidsson helping to pick up the slack.
“I thought we dealt with it good,” Draisaitl said. “The guys that were maybe a little further down the lineup, obviously got their minutes elevated a little bit.”
Edmonton, which has weathered the storm on the back end in these playoffs with the soon-to-be-healthy blue liner Mattias Ekholm sidelined, was already dealing with one injury up front after Connor Brown took a huge hit in Sunday’s 6-1 victory in Game 3.
The Oilers could elect to go with 11 forwards and seven defensemen in Game 5 on Thursday night if their two injured wingers can’t go and Ekholm is ready.
“He’s a huge piece, a key piece,” Skinner said of Hyman. “He is a cliché. He is a hard worker, he grinds, he does the little things right, and on top of that, he’s an amazing human being.
Perry, who at age 40 has seen a lot of hockey, said Hyman is “a dog-on-the-bone” for Edmonton.
“He wants the puck,” he said. “If he doesn’t have it, he’s chasing it down. That’s Zach Hyman hockey.”
The Oilers had to do without his relentless approach in Game 4. How long that lasts will come into better focus before the team boards a plane Wednesday just 60 minutes from another appearance in the final.
“Guys are ready to step up,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “Everybody’s just chomping at the bit to get out there.
“Part of it felt like we were doing it for Zach.”
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