GAME RECAP: Oilers 4, Stars 1 (Game 4)

EDMONTON, AB – One win away from getting back to where we know we belong – the Stanley Cup Final.

Winger Corey Perry scored the game winner on the power play in the second period for the Edmonton Oilers, who went 2-for-3 with the man advantage and received 28 saves from goaltender Stuart Skinner to defeat the Dallas Stars 4-1 on Tuesday in Game 4 of the Western Conference Final at Rogers Place.

"I think everybody's pretty locked in," Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said. "We're all trying to do our part and chip in, and tonight, I think we needed the power play to kind of step up, and we've talked a lot about scoring in the big moments when the team needs us. I thought we did a great job tonight.

"I think everybody's locked in, ready to chip in and do their part."

Leon Draisaitl and Corey Perry each recorded a goal and an assist, notching power-play goals in the first and second periods to give the Oilers two separate one-goal leads after Stars winger Jason Robertson made it 1-1 on the man advantage 6:27 into the middle frame.

Draisaitl and Perry's seventh and sixth goals of the playoffs were both the product of assists provided by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who stretched his career-best playoff point streak to four games and nine points (2G, 7A) with his third straight multi-point effort in the victory.

Forwards Kasperi Kapanen and Adam Henrique added empty-net goals for the Oilers after the Stars pulled netminder Jake Oettinger for the extra attacker.

Stuart Skinner was once again steady between the pipes for Edmonton, outduelling Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger on Tuesday night and in this series by making 28 saves in Game 4 to give him 86 saves on 88 shots over his last three starts for a .977 save percentage with two shutouts.

Zach Hyman left the game with an upper-body injury in the first period and didn't return for the Oilers, with an update on the winger's status expected to be provided by Head Coach Kris Knoblauch on Wednesday before the team's flight to Dallas ahead of Game 5 at American Airlines Center on Thursday.

“He’s a top player for us,” 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 he's alright.”

The Oilers have outscored the Stars 13-1 over three straight victories and will take a 3-1 series lead into their chance to advance to the Stanley Cup Final for the second consecutive year on Thursday night.

"We just won a big game at home, and we're going to Dallas to have the chance to move on to the Stanley Cup Finals. If that doesn't get you excited, I'm not sure what will," Leon Draisaitl said. "But that's going to be the toughest game of the series. We know, because we've been in that situation, so get ready for it. We know there are certain areas we can clean up and be better at, but overall, we're playing a pretty good game right now."

FIRST PERIOD

Honestly, who wasn't yelling 'Shooooot!' to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins past the midway mark of the opening frame on Edmonton's first power play, when he decided to look off the fans inside Rogers Place and his wide-open chance from the slot to instead connect a pass to Leon Draisaitl in the right circle?

Well, as it turns out – as it always has been – the Nuge knows best.

"He's done everything that you can ask," Perry said. "He's put in the work and he's getting rewarded, and he's making good plays and plays on both sides of the puck. He works as hard as anybody on the ice, and what he's doing out there just helps us out a lot."

The Stars were the more dangerous team in the opening frame with a 17-10 lead in shots and 6-2 advantage in High Danger Scoring Chances, as per Natural Stat Trick. But as it'd been for the previous two games of this series, the Blue & Orange had the early edge in the special teams battle by stopping Dallas on their first penalty kill before converting on the power play for a fourth straight contest to open the scoring in Game 4 on Tuesday night.

In the first period, we were the second-best team; we were a little bit slow. They had their chances," Knoblauch said. "We were just hanging on, and the chances we gave up, Stu made many saves, and we could have been down several goals after the first period. After that, I thought we played a really good game."

Stuart Skinner made a terrific kick save in the first five minutes when Tyler Seguin's wrap-around attempt resulted in a quick rebound for former Oilers defenceman Alex Petrovic, who had his fellow Edmonton product come up with a quick reactionary stop before the Stars earned their first power play.

"I was feeling good," Skinner said. "They definitely brought it early on. They were bringing it the whole game again, and how we all played as a team was fantastic. It shows a lot of courage in the way that our guys are blocking shots, and for me, it definitely felt good out there. I'm just trying to give my team the best chance possible every night, and they're going to get their chances. They're a fantastic team, and how we respond to that has been excellent."

'Earned' was a term used lightly to describe defenceman John Klingberg being called for holding Matt Duchene in the left circle despite no real grab being made by the Swedish defenceman. However, the Oilers' penalty kill made efficient work of their task, stopping the Stars' power play for a fifth straight time after going a perfect 5-for-5 over Games 2 and 3 of this series

"They had a lot of pressure, and [Skinner] made some tremendous saves," Perry said. "When you give up almost 20 shots in a period, you know you're not on your game, but we found a way to come out one up and never looked back."

After Corey Perry was slow to get up from a cross-check delivered to his back by Mikael Granlund earlier in the period, the Oilers were dealt a blow by losing Hyman for the rest of the contest when Mason Marchment clipped the winger with a check at the blueline.

Hyman immediately dropped his stick and looked to be favouring his left arm before he exited straight to the Oilers dressing room. Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said after the game that they'd evaluate Hyman's injury and provide an update on the winger's status by Wednesday morning.

"You've got to be aware who's on the bench or who's up on the bench," Perry said about dealing with the abrupt exit of Hyman.

"You get into the game and you're focused on your next shift, and you never know if you're going to be up with somebody else. But I thought we did a good job. Obviously, he's a big hole to fill, but nobody's going to do that overnight. It takes a team effort, and I thought we did a good job of that. He means everything. He's a workhorse. He's a dog and a bone on the puck."

Soon after, Jamie Benn was called for tripping near the period's midway mark on a forecheck for taking the feet out from under John Klingberg, sending the Oilers to their first power play with the chance to break the deadlock and get a goal for their departed teammate in Hyman.

Draisaitl came over the blueline and made the feed to Nugent-Hopkins, who was alone in the slot with the fans yelling at him to 'Shooooot!' his free attempt on Oettinger before he elected to dish it back to the German for a tight-angle one-timer from the right circle. Draisaitl got his effort off quickly and found space between Oettinger's glove and the near post to make it 1-0 for the Oilers at 11:23 of the first period.

"They're very prideful," Knoblauch said of the power play. "They have been the best power play for the last five or six years, and when things haven't gone well, they take ownership and they step up and want it to make a difference. So far, early in this power play or series, it hasn't been much of a factor, which is uncommon. I think all five of those guys were dialled in and wanted to make a difference, and some of the plays they made, obviously I thought Ryan made two nice passes, but I thought everyone was dialled in and they made a difference with two goals tonight."

The League's leading scorer in the playoffs extended his point streak to five games after scoring his seventh goal and 22nd point in the first period, while Nugent-Hopkins is now riding a four-game point streak to begin this Western Conference Final as a top-five point getter in the 2025 playoffs.

"Through the whole playoffs, probably the best I've seen him play," Kulak said of Nugent-Hopkins. "He always brings a consistent effort, but he's consistently been at another level lately."

Before the break, Vasily Podkolzin got the only infraction for instigating a post-whistle scrum with 7.2 seconds left in the period, leaving the Oilers to kill off 1:53 of a Stars' power play on the other side of the intermission.

SECOND PERIOD

All is fair in the Stanley Cup Playoffs when it comes to calling penalties both ways.

After killing off the remainder of Podkolzin's roughing penalty at the end of the first period, the Stars tied the contest at 1-1 on their next power play just under seven minutes into the middle frame with Corey Perry in the box for interference from setting a soft screen on Mikko Rantanen in Edmonton's zone.

After Skinner made an incredible save earlier in the penalty kill to dive across his crease to get a piece of his stick to Mason Marchment's point-blank chance in front of the crease, winger Jason Robertson scored for a second straight game on the man advantage by roofing his wrist shot far side to make it 1-1.

Marchment was responsible for knocking Hyman out of the game in the first period and was lucky that Robertson made up for his Grade-A miss on Dallas' previous power play. But the Stars' winger would be responsible for allowing the Oilers the chance to restore their lead when he ran interference on Adam Henrique in a similar fashion to Klingberg's infraction a few minutes earlier.

With Hyman out for the remainder of the contest, it was Corey Perry, who was also guilty of a penalty that resulted in Dallas' equalizing goal, who assumed the net-front role on Edmonton's power play to put away his sixth goal of the playoffs on a delicious open-net set-up from Nugent-Hopkins.

"If that's interference, whatever," Perry said of his penalty that resulted in a Dallas goal. "I was trying to get to the bench and it probably looked like a pick, but it wasn't. I was just trying to get to the bench, and he cut in front of me. It happens a lot, but we found a way. We found a way to put one over the line, and the power play came through tonight.

As Nugent-Hopkins gravitated towards the Dallas net from the corner, the Stars were three across in the slot to leave Perry wide open at the far post to easily slide the Oilers back into the lead at 2-1 from inside the blue paint. Perry became the fifth player in NHL history above 40 years old to score in a Conference Final, while Nugent-Hopkins picked up his second assist of the game to push his career-best playoff point streak total to two goals and seven assists.

"We've been talking a lot and moving the puck crisply and making good plays, and the power play will open up and he made a good play," Perry said. "It's a two-one down low, and I just put on my stick at the net for him to shoot at."

The Oilers maintained their approach of defending through offensive possession, but they needed to make several crucial defensive stops to keep their lead at 2-1 through 40 minutes, including Jake Walman's critical clearance on a three-on-one rush for the Stars before the end of the period.

THIRD PERIOD

Pushing the Stars to the brink.

Edmonton expected Dallas to come out with desperation in the third period, trailing 2-1 and 20 minutes away from being one game from elimination in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and the Oilers left them no room to move.

"It shows a lot with the way that we came out in the third period," Skinner said. "With a 2-1 lead, it's easy to back off and try to play it safe, and I thought we just played the exact same way. It wasn't safe or out of the ordinary; it was just a really good level. The way that we competed, we got pucks in deep and we just got to work."

The Oilers were holding the Stars to only three shots when they had the chance to add some insurance on a tripping penalty to Mikael Granlund in the final five minutes before the Stars decided to pull Oettinger for the extra attacker to try and tie the game at six-on-five for the final 2:35 of regulation.

It took the Oilers only seven seconds to move it 200 feet into Dallas' empty net when Leon Draisaitl won a defensive-zone faceoff to Brett Kulak, who flipped the puck out of the zone and into neutral ice for Kasperi Kapanen to pick up the puck with speed and protect against Thomas Harley all the way home.

"We were talking, saying it's a pretty boring play, but it's a pretty effective play too," Kulak said.

Draisaitl's secondary assist gives him two goals and five assists over his five-game playoff point streak.

Adam Henrique tallied another empty-netter for the Oilers after the Stars pulled Oettinger again for the extra attacker, but a neutral-zone knockdown by McDavid allowed Henrique to spin around and nail the empty net from centre ice for the 4-1 Oilers lead with 50 seconds remaining.

With one more victory to get to the Stanley Cup final for a second straight year, the Oilers are looking undeterred and unwavering in their pursuit.

"It just keeps getting better and better. It's unbelievable," Nugent-Hopkins said. "It's kind of hard to wrap your head around sometimes how unbelievable this fanbase is. It seems like every series, every game, they get louder in there. There are more people out on the streets before and after. You feel the support.

"When I first came in, we were obviously a struggling team, but you never really felt the negativity too much. In the city, there is still a lot of positivity and hope. And now, we're one win away from going back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals. This is as exciting as it gets for us as a team, and also for the fan base that has stuck around through many years."