Western Final | Oilers win 5-2 and tie series against Stars

In hockey, it’s well known that you can’t score goals when you don’t shoot.

That also means that the opponent can’t score if he doesn’t shoot, and right here, we have to pay tribute to the genius in the Edmonton Oilers who ended up understanding all of that, and even more.

So with all that, we have a series, ladies and gentlemen, because on Wednesday evening in Edmonton, the Oilers won the game 5-2, to make it 2-2 in this Western final which pits them against the Stars of Dallas.

View the match summary

In the first period, the Stars scored twice on just six shots, and if the Oilers needed further proof that they don’t have a future Hall of Famer in goal, they got it. just there.

But most of the time, for them, such a low volume of shots will, sooner or later, lead to success, and that’s exactly what happened in Game 4.

Toward the end of the third period, with a two-goal deficit, the Stars were only able to get five shots on goal from Stuart Skinner, who wasn’t asking for that much. The Stars will have managed a low total of 22 shots on net after 60 minutes of play.

The Oilers understand very well where they are, and they also know who they are. This team, once focused solely on offense and a style of play reminiscent of their glory days of the 1980s and hair-raising scores, has since transformed into a team that is a little more defensively responsible. Not so much, but a little, or at least just enough.

When it comes to defensive play, these Oilers will never be confused with the New Jersey Devils of the 1990s, but they know this: to win, they cannot afford the luxury of letting the opponent throw from anywhere . Which is a good idea, because with a goalie like Skinner in front of the net, it could come in from anywhere.

So that’s what gives it.

Then, it was the usual suspects who took care of the rest: a big goal from Leon Draisaitl, the fourth for his club and also the insurance goal, Connor McDavid with two assists, Evan Bouchard, increasingly solid, with his sixth goal of the series, and so on.

For the Stars, without a doubt, this is a missed opportunity. After 5 minutes and 29 seconds of play on Wednesday evening, they had an excellent two-goal lead, but above all, they had a very calm audience around them, stunned by this outcome. Another goal, just another goal, and then the conclusion of this series would probably have been decided at that moment, with a return to Texas 48 hours later which was not going to bode well for the Oilers.

But that’s not how it happened, and now we have to wonder if the Stars will be able to recover from it, they who were widely favorites, but who now find themselves with all the pressure from the world of hockey on their shoulders.

Mind you, this wouldn’t be the first time that a club from Dallas has disappointed miserably in the playoffs.