Oilers Score Five Unanswered Goals to Tie Up Western Conference Finals at 2-2
The Edmonton Oilers and Dallas Stars clashed in a pivotal Game Four of the Western Conference Finals on Wednesday night. The Stars lead the best-of-seven series 2-1. The Oilers reeling from a home loss in Game Three, showed remarkable resilience on their home ice. Edmonton avoided a potential 3-1 deficit with a convincing 5-2 victory, leveling the series at two games apiece.
Contrary to what the final score might indicate, the Stars came out of the gates strong. Dallas punched the Oilers in the mouth right away, as Wyatt Johnston scored his ninth goal of the playoffs just 58 seconds into the game to silence the rowdy Oilers’ crowd. Then, just five minutes later, the Stars struck again, as Esa Lindell netted his third goal of the playoffs to give the Stars a very quick 2-0 lead on the road. This is where the championship pedigree of the Oilers was tested as they were tasked with digging themselves out of this quick hole. Edmonton was able to cut the deficit in half with a Ryan Mcleod goal off assists from veterans Corey Perry and Darnell Nurse. Shortly thereafter, Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins set up Evan Bouchard for a beautiful goal to tie up the game at two. This would conclude a wild first period, which had 18 combined shots on goal and four goals scored.
The Oilers would take the momentum they gained at the end of the first period and capitalize on it in the second period. Edmonton dominated the shots on goal and time of possession for the majority of the period; however, they were unable to turn any of those scoring opportunities into goals for over half of the period. They were finally able to break the seal with two goals in under a two-minute span. The first of the two was a gorgeous short-handed goal by Mattias Janmark off a saucer pass assist from Connor Brown. Then, the Oilers’ top line put together a picture-perfect tic-tac-toe goal as McDavid found Zach Hyman, and then Hyman executed a flawless give-and-go with Leon Draisaitl, who buried it in the net. The Oilers would take that 4-2 lead into the locker room.
The third period was more evenly played than the second, but the Stars were unable to get anything going. Dallas was only able to muster up eight shots on goal in the third period, including one power play opportunity, during which they had no real scoring chances. Edmonton would eventually score an empty net goal by Mattias Ekholm to make it five unanswered goals for the Oilers and officially put the game out of reach. With the series now knotted up at 2-2, both the Western and Eastern Conference Finals have become best-of-three series to determine who will play for the Stanley Cup. In the entire history of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the team that wins game five of a series that is tied 2-2 goes on to win the series 78.8% of the time. Game Five, which has become known as the “swing game,” will be played on Friday back in Dallas as the Stars look to take advantage of home ice.
