The Edmonton Oilers pushed the Dallas Stars to the brink of elimination on Tuesday with a 4-1 win in Game 4 of their Western Conference Final series. That gives them Oilers a commanding 3-1 series lead and has them just one win away from a return trip to the Stanley Cup Final for the second year in a row.
Here are some key takeaways from the Oilers’ win on Tuesday night.
You can’t take penalties against the Oilers
The Stars found this out the hard way on Tuesday. They gave the Oilers three power plays and allowed Edmonton to score on two of them. Those two goals — from Corey Perry and Leon Draisaitl — were all of the offense the Oilers would need.
With Draisaitl, Connor McDavid, Evan Bouchard and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins running their power play, that unit is consistently one of the best and most dangerous in the NHL. It’s converting on more than 25% of their chances in the playoffs.
The Oilers might have their flaws, but their power play is a consistent game-changer. They showed that again on Tuesday.
Stars have nothing going on offensively
After adding Mikko Rantanen at the trade deadline, the Stars’ forward group looked to be one of the deepest in the NHL — and through the first two rounds, they played like it.
But that offense has completely dried up in this series, especially over the past three games where the Stars have scored a grand total of only two goals.
That is not going to be good enough to beat any team, let alone one that has McDavid and Draisaitl on it.
It’s a perfect storm of the Oilers playing great defensive hockey, goalie Stuart Skinner playing the series of his life and the Stars forwards unable to create any space for themselves in the offensive zone.
We are so close to Stanley Cup Final rematch
If the Oilers and Florida Panthers can each get one more win in their respective series, they will meet for the second year in a row in the Stanley Cup Final.
It would be the first Stanley Cup Final rematch since the Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings met in back-to-back years in 2008 and 2009.
