GAME RECAP: Oilers 3, Stars 0 (Game 2)

DALLAS, TX – Bringing a split back to Oil Country thanks to another shutout from Stuart Skinner.

Goaltender Stuart Skinner stopped all 25 shots for his third shutout in his last four playoff starts as the Edmonton Oilers evened up the Western Conference Final at one game apiece on Friday night with a 3-0 shutout victory over the Dallas Stars in Game 2 at American Airlines Center.

Forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored for the second straight game on the power play to open the scoring in the first period before Brett Kulak and Connor Brown scored back-to-back just 93 seconds apart near the end of the middle frame to extend Edmonton's advantage to 3-0 through 40 minutes of play.

Stuart Skinner secured his shutout with nine saves in the third period, including a breakaway stop against Wyatt Johnston and an unbelievable stick save on Esa Lindell as both he and the Oilers were able to lock down their third clean sheet in their last four playoff games. Edmonton's penalty kill bounced back from a tough showing in Game 1 by going 2-for-2 on Friday night to assist in sending Dallas to their fourth shutout loss of the 2025 postseason.

"Things happen so fast out there that there will always be little breakdowns, but it's about bailing each other out sometimes and finding ways to work through the mistakes," Nugent-Hopkins said. "Of course, you'd love to make it that simple every night, but tonight we did a great job of battling for each other, and when there was a little breakdown here or there, we had each other's backs."

Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl each produced assists to equal Mikko Rantanen's playoff-leading total of 20 points, with the Oilers captain becoming the fourth player in NHL history to record 20 points in four straight postseasons with the helper on Kulak's first goal of the playoffs.

"We always know how to bounce back," McDavid said. "We believe that we're a good team in tough situations. Down one on the road, we had to find a way to have your best game, and we had a good one and found a way to win."

The Oilers will return to Rogers Place with the series tied at 1-1 split as they prepare to host the Stars in Games 3 & 4 on Sunday and Tuesday.

"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," Nugent-Hopkins said. "We now have home-ice advantage, so it will 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."

FIRST PERIOD

"That's the playoffs – you've got to be able to punch back," Zach Hyman said. "It's a series. You've got to find a way. It's a rollercoaster of emotions, but you've got to stay even-keeled, and I think we recognize how important each game is. But especially after a loss, you have to come out strong."

Another opportunistic goal for Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on the power play and an importantly-timed penalty kill for the Oilers in the first period had them playing with the majority of momentum through 20 minutes with a 1-0 lead and an 8-6 advantage in scoring chances, as per Natural Stat Trick.

Mikael Granlund's check to the numbers on Troy Stecher in the opening minutes produced the game's first power-play opportunity for Edmonton, who went 1-for-3 with the man advantage in Game 1 after receiving their only conversion of the night from Nugent-Hopkins to take the lead 2-1 in the second period.

Nugent-Hopkins was fortunate to have the puck fall to his stick on Wednesday in Game 1 thanks to a good bounce before he wristed it low glove on Jake Oettinger, and on Edmonton's first PP on Friday, the longest-tenured Oilers player was opportunistic again by poking home his fifth goal of the playoffs with the man advantage after Evan Bouchard's point shot caught a piece of Roope Hintz on the way through.

Nugent-Hopkins now has power-play goals in back-to-back postseason games for the first time in his career, and Leon Draisaitl recorded an assist to stretch his playoff point streak to three games (1G, 4A) and tie Stars forward Mikko Rantanen for the playoff lead with 20 points (6G, 14A).

The Oilers were thrown into an early test on the penalty kill just over two minutes later when Corey Perry took a roughing penalty for pulling down Colin Blackwell inside the Edmonton crease, calling on the PK to come up with a big stop for their confidence after giving up three PPGs in the third period of Game 1 that proved to be the difference.

The penalty kill stood strong on Dallas' early opportunity and even came up with the best chance of the power play when Connor McDavid struck the post on a two-on-one with Connor Brown as Perry came out of the penalty box. Stuart Skinner had to be ready on the next rush up ice for the Stars when Miro Heiskanen came over the blueline to accept a wide-open opportunity and force the Edmonton netminder into a high save on one of Dallas' best chances of the period.

Skinner was well on his way to having another significant impact on the game after making 11 saves in the opening 20 minutes on Friday.

"I think we probably played better last game than we did this game, but Stu was phenomenal," Zach Hyman said. "The chances that they did get, he shut the door, and special teams are really important in the playoffs. So we've probably been one of the best five-on-five teams in the playoffs so far, and if we can shore up the special teams, which we're usually good at, then we'll be in a good spot."

SECOND PERIOD

The Oilers didn't want to beat themselves up like they did in Game 1 on Wednesday, and a simple approach to Game 2 on Friday was what it'd take.

"It's important," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "No matter what team you have, whether you've got a team full of stars or third or fourth liners, you have to play the game with simplicity and hard work. Maybe there's some fancier plays occasionally, but ultimately, the game comes down to just executing the simple plays over and over again.

"All those are boring things that don't get on the highlights, but for any team to be successful, they've got to do it continuously."

It was more of the same from the Oilers with the majority of the chances going Oettinger's direction in the Dallas crease before two quick tallies from Brett Kulak and Connor Brown in a 1:13 stretch of the last five minutes of the middle frame gave them some extra breathing room with a 3-0 lead after 40 minutes.

A Draisaitl turnaround attempt and a Trent Frederic low effort in the first half of the middle frame forced Oettinger into making some critical saves to keep it a one-goal game until Kulak notched his first goal of the playoffs on his second try from the slot after the Oilers regrouped from their own zone.

McDavid took a bounce pass off the boards from Evan Bouchard near the Dallas bench before crossing the blueline and finding Kulak, who had his first shot blocked by Mikko Rantanen in the slot before picking up his own rebound and firing his next shot far side on Oettinger with 4:37 left in the second period.

The tally was Kulak's first of the playoffs, making him the 17th different Oilers player to notch a goal in the 2025 postseason.

Amidst their best offensive stretch of the game, the Oilers leveraged their pressure into a three-goal lead 1:13 later on a terrific knock-down deflection from Connor Brown during a sequence for Edmonton's third line where they wouldn't be denied.

"We can score the highlight-reel ones every now and then, but this time of year, it takes some ugly ones getting to the net," McDavid said. "Obviously, this team defends really well. Dallas has a great goalie. You've got to make it hard on them by getting bodies and pucks to the net to find a way to bang one in."

Evander Kane had an excellent look from the slot on a three-on-two rush before the puck returned to the blueline, where Jake Walman kept it in before moving it back down the wall to Nugent-Hopkins. On a knee-high shot from the hashmarks from No. 93, Brown knocked the puck down and had it bounce over Oettinger's right pad to extend the lead to 3-0 for the Oilers on his fifth goal of the playoffs.

"Their goalie is a good goalie, too," Hyman added. "He made some huge saves, especially early on. But if you deflect pucks or can't see the puck, it makes it a lot harder to save it. So that's where a lot of the goals are scored."

With another goal and assist performance, Nugent-Hopkins has now produced multiple points in back-to-back games.

Edmonton closed out the second period with a 3-0 lead and spent 52 seconds on the power play from Oettinger putting his clearance over the glass.

THIRD PERIOD

Stuart Skinner made a handful of excellent saves in the third period to secure his third shutout in only four starts this postseason, turning aside Wyatt Johnston on a breakaway less than two minutes into the frame that wasn't even his most significant intervention of the period.

"The one that I think about is the one early in the third period on the breakaway, and Stu came up big and made some really big saves for us tonight," Knoblauch said. "Our team had some block shots and we defended well, but Stu had a lot of timely saves, especially the one at the start of the third period that allowed us to keep them off the scoreboard."

The Oilers didn't convert on 21 seconds of a five-on-three power play early in the frame, but they needed their penalty kill to stay perfect with Nurse in the box for slashing Roope Hintz, prompting an official review for a five-minute major and Hintz being forced to exit the game five minutes into the period.

"A big kill there in the third and in the first as well. Their power play's been really good at home," McDavid said. "Obviously, a little bit shell-shocked after Game 1 there, and we found a way to shut them out on the kill, which is always a good thing, and the power play found one. You always have a chance when you win the special teams battle."

Edmonton finished 2-for-2 on the penalty kill in a bounce-back from Wednesday's 6-3 defeat to Dallas, which was the product of three PPGs for the Stars, and the defence was able to help lock it down for their netminder to come up with their third clean sheet in four games.

"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 was 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. Everyone's selling out blocking shots that time of year. That's what it takes. That's been fun to watch."

Skinner's 25-save shutout wouldn't have been possible without his unbelievable stop on Esa Lindell with 9:33 gone in the third period, reaching back with his stick on a wide-open net to deflect the puck away from danger with a 'Save of the Playoffs' candidate.

"I did know that I stopped it. I didn't know how close it exactly was," Skinner said. "I knew it hit my stick, and then I was just praying to God that it didn't go in. The play continued, so it's a nice little cherry on top. It's a pretty wild play. I don't think you expect a guy to miss his shot and have it go off the boards and right onto his tape in a pretty good spot. It was a weird play. You've just got to grind it out."

Dallas' attempt at getting back in the game by pulling Oettinger with under four minutes left was short-lived when Rantanen's slashed Hyman's stick in half as he eyed up the open net, negating their six-on-five opportunity as the Oilers were more than comfortable seeing out the remaining time of their victory.