Leon Draisaitl and Corey Perry each had a power-play goal and an assist as the Edmonton Oilers took a commanding 3-1 lead in the Western Conference final series with a 4-1 victory over the Dallas Stars on Tuesday.
Kasperi Kapanen and Adam Henrique both added empty-net goals, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Connor McDavid each had two assists for the Oilers who have battled back and won three consecutive games after a third-period collapse cost them the opening game in Dallas.
The Oilers are now 9-0 in Game 4s over their past three playoff runs.
Stuart Skinner continued to shine in the Edmonton net, making 28 saves to register the win.
Jason Robertson replied for the Stars, who are in danger of being eliminated in the West final by the Oilers for the second year in a row.
The Edmonton Oilers are looking to reclaim the title of Stanley Cup champions for the first time in 35 years. The CBC’s Sam Brooks asked fans at the Ice District watch party what they would do if the Oilers finally snap that drought.
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.
Dallas has been outscored 10-0 in the first period on the road in this year’s 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 multi-point 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.
The Oilers controlled the third and were able to add insurance with 2:27 to play on an empty-net goal by Kapanen. Henrique then added another empty-netter with 50 seconds remaining.
Stars forward Roope Hintz returned to the lineup after missing a game after having to be helped off the ice late in the third period of Game 2 when he was slashed on the top of the left foot by Oilers defenceman Darnell Nurse.
Forward Viktor Arvidsson took the place of Connor Brown for Edmonton after Brown left Game 3 after taking a hit from Stars defenceman Alexander Petrovic. Calvin Pickard, who sports a 6-0 record in the playoffs, returned from injury to backup Skinner.
Game 5 takes place on Thursday in Dallas.
