Since scoring five unanswered goals in the third period of Game 1 of the Western Conference Final, the Dallas Stars have scored two goals in nine periods of play.
The Edmonton Oilers had a sloppy start to this year&#8217;s semifinal rematch, but they&#8217;ve completely shut things down since. Stuart Skinner posted a shutout in a 3-0 victory in Game 2, and the offence popped off in a 6-1 win on Sunday afternoon.
With a 4-1 win in <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/oilers-one-win-from-stanley-cup-final-after-game-4-victory-over-stars">Game 4</a> on Tuesday, the Oilers have the Stars on the brink of elimination. A win in Game 5 in Dallas on <a href="https://oilersnation.com/schedule">Thursday</a> would send Edmonton back to the Stanley Cup Final.

<h2>Stars of the Game&#8230;</h2>
If the NHL handed out Most Valuable Player awards for the Conference Finals like MLB does, it would be a tight race between Stuart Skinner and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, assuming Edmonton can get the job done.
Skinner stopped 28 of 29 shots in Game 4, keeping the score knotted in the first period when the Stars were pushing hard to take an early lead. Through four games against Dallas in this series, the Edmonton native has a .939 save percentage. If you take away Game 1, his save percentage is .977.
Nugent-Hopkins made a nice play with Leon Draisaitl on Edmonton&#8217;s first goal and then had a beautiful move to feed Corey Perry on the doorstep for the team&#8217;s second goal. After scoring nine points in the first two rounds of the playoffs, Nugent-Hopkins leads the Oilers with nine points in four games against the Stars.
Another nod needs to be given to the Oilers&#8217; team defence, especially in the third period. With Edmonton up 2-1 and the Stars badly in need of a goal, Dallas was able to get just four shots on goal in the final frame. The Oilers capped the game off with two empty-netters, fittingly from Adam Henrique and Kasperi Kapanen, two players who were rewarded for solid defensive play.
<h2>What they said&#8230;</h2>
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on how the Oilers are playing against the Stars&#8230;
<blockquote>&#8220;I think everybody&#8217;s pretty locked in. We&#8217;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&#8217;ve talked a lot about scoring in the big moments when the team needs us. I thought we did a great job tonight.</blockquote>
Leon Draisaitl on looking ahead to Game 5 in Dallas on Thursday&#8230;
<blockquote>&#8220;We just won a big game at home, and we&#8217;re going to Dallas to have the chance to move on to the Stanley Cup Final. If that doesn&#8217;t get you excited, I&#8217;m not sure what will. But that&#8217;s going to be the toughest game of the series. We know, because we&#8217;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&#8217;re playing a pretty good game right now.&#8221;</blockquote>
Corey Perry on the Oilers navigating the injury to Zach Hyman&#8230;
<blockquote>&#8220;You&#8217;ve got to be aware who&#8217;s on the bench or who&#8217;s up on the bench. You get into the game and you&#8217;re focused on your next shift, and you never know if you&#8217;re going to be up with somebody else. But I thought we did a good job. Obviously, [Hyman] is a big hole to fill, but nobody&#8217;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&#8217;s a workhorse. He&#8217;s a dog and a bone on the puck.&#8221;</blockquote>
Goaltender Stuart Skinner on how the Oilers are playing in front of him&#8230;
<blockquote>&#8220;I was feeling good. [The Stars] 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&#8217;m just trying to give my team the best chance possible every night, and they&#8217;re going to get their chances. They&#8217;re a fantastic team, and how we respond to that has been excellent.&#8221;</blockquote>
Edmonton head coach Kris Knoblauch on the Oilers&#8217; power play finding its form&#8230;
<blockquote>&#8220;They&#8217;re very prideful. They&#8217;ve been the best power play for the last five or six years, and when things haven&#8217;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&#8217;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.&#8221;</blockquote>
Knoblauch on how the Oilers have been defending successfully against the Stars&#8230;
<blockquote>“You guys ask us about our checking and defensive play all the time. Those guys can defend. They’re good at it and good when it matters most, in the third period holding the lead. There’s a lot of older guys with playoff experience, they know what it takes to win hockey games.
We’re getting a lot of saves out of Stu, and when a goalie makes a lot of saves, you often forget about what happened for that scoring chance. There were some mistakes, and there will always be some mistakes, but when the goalie is playing at the top of his game, it alleviates your memory of those mistakes.”</blockquote>
Dallas head coach Pete DeBoer on what went wrong for the Stars in Game 4&#8230;
<blockquote>“A little bit of the same story, we just can’t get that lead. I loved our first period even though we had, I think, 15 missed shots. So, we’ve got to make it a little bit tougher and make sure we’re hitting nets in those situations. But really, to play a period like that and not get out even or up, you’re actually down a goal, is a tough spot.
“And the other story is obviously the penalty kill. We’ve got to get a kill, that’s the difference in the game. First period, not capitalizing, and then not stopping their power play.”</blockquote>
<h2>Up Next&#8230;</h2>
The Western Conference Final will now shift back to Dallas for Game 5 on <a href="https://oilersnation.com/schedule">Thursday</a> night.
Another win for the Oilers would send them to the Stanley Cup Final for the second year in a row, while a win for the Stars would send the series back to Edmonton for Game 6.

Since scoring five unanswered goals in the third period of Game 1 of the Western Conference Final, the Dallas Stars have scored two goals in nine periods of play.

The Edmonton Oilers had a sloppy start to this year's semifinal rematch, but they've completely shut things down since. Stuart Skinner posted a shutout in a 3-0 victory in Game 2, and the offence popped off in a 6-1 win on Sunday afternoon.

With a 4-1 win in <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/oilers-one-win-from-stanley-cup-final-after-game-4-victory-over-stars">Game 4</a> on Tuesday, the Oilers have the Stars on the brink of elimination. A win in Game 5 in Dallas on <a href="https://oilersnation.com/schedule">Thursday</a> would send Edmonton back to the Stanley Cup Final.


<h2>Stars of the Game...</h2>
If the NHL handed out Most Valuable Player awards for the Conference Finals like MLB does, it would be a tight race between Stuart Skinner and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, assuming Edmonton can get the job done.

Skinner stopped 28 of 29 shots in Game 4, keeping the score knotted in the first period when the Stars were pushing hard to take an early lead. Through four games against Dallas in this series, the Edmonton native has a .939 save percentage. If you take away Game 1, his save percentage is .977.

Nugent-Hopkins made a nice play with Leon Draisaitl on Edmonton's first goal and then had a beautiful move to feed Corey Perry on the doorstep for the team's second goal. After scoring nine points in the first two rounds of the playoffs, Nugent-Hopkins leads the Oilers with nine points in four games against the Stars.

Another nod needs to be given to the Oilers' team defence, especially in the third period. With Edmonton up 2-1 and the Stars badly in need of a goal, Dallas was able to get just four shots on goal in the final frame. The Oilers capped the game off with two empty-netters, fittingly from Adam Henrique and Kasperi Kapanen, two players who were rewarded for solid defensive play.
<h2>What they said...</h2>
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on how the Oilers are playing against the Stars...
<blockquote>"I think everybody's pretty locked in. 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.</blockquote>
Leon Draisaitl on looking ahead to Game 5 in Dallas on Thursday...
<blockquote>"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 Final. If that doesn't get you excited, I'm not sure what will. 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."</blockquote>
Corey Perry on the Oilers navigating the injury to Zach Hyman...
<blockquote>"You've got to be aware who's on the bench or who's up on the bench. 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, [Hyman] is 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."</blockquote>
Goaltender Stuart Skinner on how the Oilers are playing in front of him...
<blockquote>"I was feeling good. [The Stars] 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."</blockquote>
Edmonton head coach Kris Knoblauch on the Oilers' power play finding its form...
<blockquote>"They're very prideful. They've 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."</blockquote>
Knoblauch on how the Oilers have been defending successfully against the Stars...
<blockquote>“You guys ask us about our checking and defensive play all the time. Those guys can defend. They’re good at it and good when it matters most, in the third period holding the lead. There’s a lot of older guys with playoff experience, they know what it takes to win hockey games.

We’re getting a lot of saves out of Stu, and when a goalie makes a lot of saves, you often forget about what happened for that scoring chance. There were some mistakes, and there will always be some mistakes, but when the goalie is playing at the top of his game, it alleviates your memory of those mistakes.”</blockquote>
Dallas head coach Pete DeBoer on what went wrong for the Stars in Game 4...
<blockquote>“A little bit of the same story, we just can’t get that lead. I loved our first period even though we had, I think, 15 missed shots. So, we’ve got to make it a little bit tougher and make sure we’re hitting nets in those situations. But really, to play a period like that and not get out even or up, you’re actually down a goal, is a tough spot.

“And the other story is obviously the penalty kill. We’ve got to get a kill, that’s the difference in the game. First period, not capitalizing, and then not stopping their power play.”</blockquote>
<h2>Up Next...</h2>
The Western Conference Final will now shift back to Dallas for Game 5 on <a href="https://oilersnation.com/schedule">Thursday</a> night.

Another win for the Oilers would send them to the Stanley Cup Final for the second year in a row, while a win for the Stars would send the series back to Edmonton for Game 6.

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