Instant Reaction +13.0: Oilers even Western Conference Final with 3-0 victory over Stars in Game 2

The score stood at 1-0 for a while until just under five minutes left in the second period. Connor McDavid found the trailing Brett Kulak, whose initial shot was blocked. Thankfully, the puck went back to the defenceman, beating Jake Oettinger for his first of the postseason.

A minute and 13 seconds later, the Oilers broke into the zone, with Evander Kane’s shot being stopped. The puck went to the point, then the half boards to Nugent-Hopkins, who shot it towards the net. Connor Brown deflected it beautifully to put the Oilers up 3-0. That’s all the Oilers needed.

Takeaways…

Stuart Skinner is having the most confounding postseason I’ve ever seen for a goalie. Through seven games, Skinner is 3-4-0, which isn’t too weird considering Calvin Pickard is 6-0-0. The weird thing is that when Skinner allows a goal, the Oilers lose. In those four losses, Skinner has allowed 20 goals. All three wins have been shutouts and have come in three of his last four games.

And it’s not like his 24 shots were simple either. During an Oilers’ power play in the third period, Skinner just got enough of a breakaway to keep his shutout intact. His biggest save of the game came later that period, diving across the net and getting a stick on it to deflect it into the corner. It’s one of the nicest saves of his career.

Connor McDavid picked up his 97th postseason assist on the Oilers’ second goal. That broke a tie with Mario Lemieux in 20 fewer games played, as the Oilers’ captain has moved into a tie for the 26th-most postseason assists in history. Moreover, McDavid became the fourth player in history to score 20 points in four consecutive postseasons.

Although McDavid and Leon Draisaitl both picked up an assist in Friday’s game, the Oilers’ depth showed up as well. Connor Brown’s goal late in the second period was his fifth of the postseason, moving into a tie with Evan Bouchard and Corey Perry for second-most on the team. Brett Kulak was the 17th Oiler to find the back of the net this postseason.

Troy Stecher may stand at just 5’10”, 184 lbs, but the right-shot defenceman plays like he’s 6’6”. His 15:24 minutes on Friday was the fewest for an Oiler defenceman, but he made an impact. Stecher is likely the defenceman that’ll come out whenever Mattias Ekholm is ready, but that depth helped the Oilers so much this postseason.

Darnell Nurse took a penalty in the third period, slashing Roope Hintz. It looked rather innocuous, but he hit Hintz in a bad spot, and the Stars’ forward didn’t return to the game. It was called a five, but after review, the officials dropped it to a minor penalty.

Corey Perry took a penalty that led to the Stars’ comeback on Wednesday. Well, he took another bad penalty in the first period of Friday’s game. Thankfully, the Oilers killed that one off, too.

The Oilers went 2/2 on the penalty kill tonight, a much better performance than on Wednesday. It’s also worth noting that they were a lot more disciplined, and when they took a penalty in the third, they didn’t spiral and take two more.

For the second time this postseason, the Oilers scored a power-play goal on the road. Like Wednesday, it was Ryan Nugent-Hopkins who found the back of the net for the opener. If the man advantage can stay hot at home, good things will happen.

The Oilers have home ice advantage now, and Game 3 will be played on Sunday at 1:00 PM MT in Edmonton. Funnily enough, this was the Stars’ first loss this postseason on home ice.