The Dallas Stars are in Alberta on Tuesday to take on Edmonton Oilers in Game Four of the Western Conference Final. Game time at Rogers Place is 8:00 p.m. EDT (7:00 p.m. CDT). The game will be televised nationally in the United States on ESPN and streamed live on ESPN+.
The Stars have lost back-to-back games. Therefore, the Stars need a win on Tuesday to even the series and avoid falling into a three games to one deficit. Over the last two games, the Oilers have outscored the Stars by a combined 9-1.
Series to date
Game One: Pete DeBoer”s team staged a comeback 6-3 win. Dallas exploded for five unanswered goals in the third period to turn a 3-1 deficit into a 6-3 victory.
Game Two: The Oilers blanked the Stars, 3-0. Stuart Skinner stopped all 25 shots he faced. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had a goal and an assist for Edmonton.
Game Three: Edmonton cruised to a 6-1 win. Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman scored twice apiece. Jason Robertson tallied his first goal of the playoffs to temporarily get the Stars within 2-1.
Special teams comparison
Heading into the series, special teams in the playoffs presented an on-paper edge to Dallas. In Game One of the series, it proved to be the biggest difference-maker. The Stars went 3-for-4 on the power play on Wednesday, with all three tallies coming amid the massive turnaround in the third period. The Oilers scored on their first power play of the game. Subsequently, the Stars killed off their next two penalties including a vital PK in the third period.
In Game Two, the Oilers went 1-for-5 on the power play. Dallas was 0-for-2. Two nights later in Game Three, the Oilers were 1-for-3 on the power play. The Stars were 0-for-2.
Updated series stats:
Power play: Stars (3-for-8), Oilers (3-for-11)
Penalty kill: Stars (8-for-11), Oilers (5-for-8)
Projected Dallas Starting Lines: Game Four
Mikael Granlund – Roope Hintz (?) – Mikko Rantanen
Mason Marchment – Matt Duchene – Tyler Seguin
Jamie Benn – Wyatt Johnston – Evgenii Dadonov
Jason Robertson – Sam Steel – Colin Blackwell
Esa Lindell – Miro Heiskanen
Thomas Harley – Cody Ceci
Lian Bichsel – Alexander Petrovic
Jake Oettinger
[Casey DeSmith]
Possible scratches: Brendan Smith, Matt Dumba, Ilya Lyubushkin, Mavrik Bourque, Oskar Back, Nils Lundqvist (shoulder)
Questionable: Roope Hintz (lower body) is a game time decision
Projected Edmonton Starting Lines: Game Two
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Connor McDavid – Zach Hyman
Vasily Podkolzin – Leon Draisaitl – Kasperi Kapanen
Evander Kane – Adam Henrique – Viktor Arvidsson
Trent Frederic – Mattias Janmark – Corey Perry
Brett Kulak – Evan Bouchard
Darnell Nurse – Troy Stecher
Jake Walman – John Klingberg
Stuart Skinner
[Olivier Rodrigue]
Possible scratches: Connor Brown (DTD), Joshua Brown, Cam Dineen, Ty Emberson, Max Jones, Derek Ryan, Jeff Skinner, Mattias Ekholm (undisclosed injury), Calvin Pickard (lower-body injury).
