Some groups carry out their finest with their backs proverbially towards the wall. We are going to discover out if that is the case for the Dallas Stars.
The Edmonton Oilers have opened up a 3-1 lead over the Stars within the Western Convention finals, heading into Sport 5 Thursday night time (8 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN+).
Can the Stars ship it again to Alberta for Sport 6 on Saturday? Or will the Oilers shut them out and be part of the Florida Panthers within the Stanley Cup Last for a second consecutive yr?
Listed below are notes on the matchup from ESPN Analysis, in addition to betting intel from ESPN BET:
Extra from Sport 4: Recap | Grades
Matchup notes
Dallas Stars at Edmonton Oilers
Sport 5 | 8 p.m. ET | ESPN/ESPN+
The Oilers’ odds to win the Western Convention finals at the moment are -1200, up from -375 heading into Sport 4. In the meantime, the Stars’ odds to rally for the win at the moment are +600, up from +280 when the sequence was 2-1. Edmonton is now +110 to win the Cup, whereas Dallas is +1400. Connor McDavid leads the Conn Smythe odds record, at +130; Leon Draisaitl (+650) is the one different participant on this sequence beneath 10-1.
Edmonton is now 6-1 at dwelling this postseason, outscoring opponents 33-17. The Oilers are 17-1 in best-of-seven sequence all-time when main 3-1; their solely loss was the 1989 division semifinals towards the Los Angeles Kings.
Dallas has been outscored 10-0 on the street within the first interval this postseason, the primary staff in Stanley Cup playoff historical past to fail to attain a first-period objective on the street via eight video games of a single playoff yr. They’ve misplaced all 16 best-of-seven sequence when trailing 3-1.
Draisaitl had a power-play objective and an help in Sport 4, the thirteenth game-opening playoff objective in his profession, which ties Wayne Gretzky and Glenn Anderson for probably the most in franchise historical past. It was his twentieth profession power-play objective within the postseason, which is fourth in Oilers’ franchise historical past behind Gretzky (23), Jari Kurri (22) and Anderson (22).
With one other multipoint sport, McDavid now has extra profession playoff video games with two or extra factors (45) than one or zero factors mixed (44).
Stuart Skinner has gone 5-1 in his previous six begins, and his twenty fourth profession playoff win strikes him forward of Andy Moog into third on the franchise leaderboard; Invoice Ranford is second, with 25, whereas Grant Fuhr is No. 1 with 74.
Jason Robertson scored a power-play objective within the Sport 4 loss. His seven power-play objectives over the previous 4 postseasons are probably the most for the Stars in that span.
Dallas’ Mikko Rantanen completed with no objectives on two photographs on objective. He now has a seven-game goalless drought, which is tied for his longest in a single postseason (2022, with the Colorado Avalanche).
Together with his subsequent win, Stars goalie Jake Oettinger will transfer up the leaderboard for playoff wins by a U.S.-born netminder. His 32 are tied for fourth with Jon Casey and Frank Brimsek, behind Tom Barrasso (61), Jonathan Fast (49) and Mike Richter (41).
Scoring leaders
GP: 15 | G: 5 | A: 19
GP: 17 | G: 9 | A: 12
