*Photo from the Hockey News*
Series tied 2-2
Buckle up, this will be one to watch. Connor McDavid had 3 assists, Mattias Janmark scored the game winning goal, and the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Dallas Stars with a 5-2 victory Wednesday night in Edmonton.
Down 2-0 in the first period, the Oilers rattled off 5 unanswered goals to take control of the game, tying the series 2-2 and forcing at least a game 6. The tale of this series has been sudden momentum swings, and what transpired in game 4 was no different.
Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said of the win that "I was thinking it was going to be a long night. Yeah, it didn’t look very good. Things weren’t going our way. They looked much sharper making plays. It wasn't the start we wanted, but you’ve seen this right through the series where both teams have absolutely dominated, and then the other team has dominated. Like, it’s been back-and-forth."
Wyatt Johnston scored just 58 seconds into the game, giving the Stars a 1-0 lead right off the bat. Esa Lindell doubled the lead to 2-0 5:29 into the game. At the 13:30 mark of the first, Darnell Nurse and Corey Perry assisted on Ryan McLeod's goal for the Oilers. Evan Bouchard followed that up with a goal to tie the game 2-2.
Janmark scored the game winning goal with the Oilers shorthanded, scoring 14:31 into the second period with Connor Brown assisting. Leon Draisaitl scored 51 seconds later for the Oilers, doubling their lead to 4-2 on his 10th goal of the playoffs. Mattias Ekholm scored on an empty net in the final minutes of regulation.
Draisaitl said after the game that "I think maybe we were a little sleepy for a couple minutes there. But we found our legs, got going a little bit, started to play our game. Stayed fresh, rolled lines, and obviously we’re a tough team to handle when we play that way."
It was Stuart Skinner who got the start in net again for the Oilers, winning his second game of the series. Skinner turned aside 20 out of the 22 shots on goal that the Stars offense sent his way, recording a .909 save percentage.
Getting the start again for the Stars opposite Skinner was Jake Oettinger, who lost for the second time this series. Oettinger made 24 saves on the 28 shots the Oilers tested him with all night, giving him a .857 save percentage.
Dallas head coach Pete Deboer said of the loss that "We got up 2-0, got the start we wanted, but I don’t think we had enough guys playing at a high enough level. The rest of the game they were the better team. That’s the bottom line."
Game 5 of the series is set for Friday night as the series heads back to Dallas for one game. With the series tied 2-2 through the first 4 games, both teams look to take a 3-2 lead on the other.
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