PREVIEW: Oilers at Stars (Game 5)

The Edmonton Oilers look to carry momentum from Wednesday's victory into their opportunity tonight to take the lead over the Dallas Stars in Game 5 of the Western Conference Final at American Airlines Center

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PREVIEW: Oilers at Stars (Game 5)

DALLAS, TX – From a best of seven, to a best of five, to a best of three.

Get a victory tonight, and you’re one ‘W’ away from the Stanley Cup Final.

Giddy up, as they say in the Lone Star State.

With momentum still intact from their full-team effort in Wednesday's comeback victory against the Stars, the Oilers will be looking to maintain that competitive edge and take a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference Final on Friday in Game 5 at American Airlines Center.

That job will be far from easy for the Blue & Orange after seeing how the series has shifted in almost every direction possible throughout the first four games, with both teams trading periods of domination in each match while neither side has truly been able to establish their game over a full 60 minutes.

Over a full seven-game series, logically – as Head Coach Kris Knoblauch has mentioned – the team that’s able to get to their game the quickest, for the longest and for the most amount of times will be in prime position to see themselves come out as winners of the Western Conference and grab a spot in the Stanley Cup Final to face wither the Florida Panthers or New York Rangers.

Just who will find that extra jump on Friday night? That answer remains in question.

But the Oilers believe they've turned a corner following Knoblauch and his coaching staff's successful attempts to shake up the lineup on Wednesday that contributed to a strong showing in Game 4 from the team's depth, alongside the continued success of the penalty kill that picked up the game-winning goal shorthanded in the second period and moved to 41-for-44 (93.2 percent) in these playoffs with a crucial kill late in regulation.

“One thing that needs to be cleaned up is just having 60 minutes,” Knoblauch said upon his team’s arrival in Texas on Thursday afternoon. “Each team's had their roller-coaster moments where they’ve looked really good, and other times when they haven't really generated much. We'd like to have more of a push for 60 minutes, and It's easy to say ‘Let’s play 60 minutes’ because you're playing a pretty good team and they will have their moments.

“But I think if we can have our moments and play our game, that gives us better opportunities to win.”

The Oilers evened the series at two games apiece at Rogers Place on Wednesday with a 5-2 victory in Game 4 that saw the Blue & Orange record five unanswered goals after stumbling out of the gate and giving up two tallies to the Stars in the opening 5:29 of regulation.

“It wasn't the start that we wanted,” Knoblauch said. “It was almost at the point where it was a must-win game, and I don't think anyone was down. They were disappointed, but I don't think there was any distraction from what needed to be done. We've clawed our way out of bad situations before, and I think we were disappointed, but we were optimistic that we could turn it around.”

Edmonton was outshot by Dallas 5-0 in the first 11:49 and outscored 2-0 before registering their first shot, which started their 11-1 run before the intermission where they’d even things up 2-2 behind goals from Ryan McLeod and Evan Bouchard.

Knoblauch’s decision to make several lineup changes ahead of Game 4 paid off on the Oilers’ first goal when Corey Perry took a shot from the right circle that Jake Oettinger spilled from a collision with Chris Tanev, leaving the puck loose against the netminder’s left pad for Ryan McLeod to collect and flip into the back of the net for his first goal of the playoffs.

The pair of Oilers forwards were inserted back into the lineup along with defenceman Philip Broberg on Wednesday and were given prime deployment on the wings of Leon Draisaitl, who’d make it 4-2 before the end of the second period to hit double-digit goals for the second straight postseason after Mattias Janmark and Connor Brown connected for a short-handed goal just 51 seconds earlier.

Janmark finished off Brown's saucer pass on a three-on-one with Darnell Nurse shorthanded to provide this series with its first special-teams tally in the fourth contest after power plays were hard to come by for both sides, but Edmonton's penalty kill has now killed off 23 straight chances dating back to Game 3 of the Second Round against Vancouver.

Broberg came in for Vincent Desharnais to make his 2024 playoff debut and set a new playoff career-high with 14:21 time on ice over 21 shifts.

While it's not easy to make sweeping changes like Knoblauch did for Game 4 – leaving only his top line, top defence pairing and starting goaltender untouched from their 3-1 defeat in Game 3 two nights earlier – the bench boss described the situation as a major boon to Edmonton's team depth which hadn't quite got the credit it deserved until nine different Oilers found the scoresheet in Wednesday's win.

But like we've seen all series, what works one night isn't necessarily guaranteed to work the next.

"Very beneficial," he said. "Whoever you're playing and you want more physicality, more speed, more leadership or whatever it is, we've got some of that and we can tinker a little bit and not only insert that into our lineup, but we can play with the lines a little bit. It worked out the other night, but a lot of times it doesn't. Those guys who came out down the road, we're going to need them again, so it's probably only a short period of time until they go back in."

Connor McDavid was the only Oiler with more than a single point (three assists), while Connor Brown pushed his playoff point streak to three games (1G, 2A) and Darnell Nurse recorded 12 hits to go along with the helper he picked up on Janmark's SHG in an impactful performance.

“I don't recall ever going into a game and changing up three lineup positions – maybe a regular season game, but I don't think I've ever done that in the playoffs," Knoblauch said. "It makes it a lot easier when we've got that depth. When we have players that are not playing right now who we know can come into the lineup and contribute, that makes the decision-making a lot easier."

The Oilers wrapped up the victory with a resounding defensive effort in the third period by limiting the Stars to eight shots and only one high-danger scoring chance, as per NaturalStatTrick.com, along with a successful penalty kill and an empty-net goal from Mattias Ekholm that marked Edmonton's first third-period goal of the Western Conference Final.

The hope now for the Oilers is to carry that momentum into Friday and stretch it over multiple periods and multiple games in an attempt to become the first team in this series that's able to really string together one (or multiple) 60-minute efforts.