On the Rogers Place ice, the Edmonton coach was witnessing a bewildering, lackluster, and uninspired start to the season.
His club was down 2-1 going into Game 4 of the NHL Western Conference final against Dallas; halfway through the first period on Wednesday, they were down 2-0, hadn’t registered a shot, and appeared to be going to sleep.
It didn’t look good, Knoblauch remarked.
However, in a series that has seen extreme shifts in momentum—Edmonton lost Game 3 after blowing a 2-0 lead—the host team was far from out of it.
Finally, a successful shift spilled over into another. When the Stars put pressure on them, the Oilers held strong and battled back to tie the game before the end of the half. The clubs are now playing for a spot in the Stanley Cup final in a best-of-three format.
The Oilers defeated the Stars 5-2 in the second period to tie the series after goals from Mattias Janmark and Leon Draisaitl in a 51-second stretch.
Regarding the sluggish start, Draisaitl remarked, “We were a little sleepy.” “Found our legs, started moving a little, and engaged in our game.”
On a two-on-one, short-handed break with Connor, Janmark knotted the game.
Edmonton also added goals through Ryan McLeod, Evan Bouchard, and Mattias Ekholm, who all scored into an empty net with 1:53 left. Stuart Skinner made twenty saves, while Connor McDavid contributed two assists.
Dallas jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first 5 1/2 minutes thanks to goals from Wyatt Johnson and Esa Lindell. Late in the frame, McLeod and Bouchard responded for Edmonton.
With the rink still in high spirits during the tiebreaker, Skinner made a huge stop on Evgenii Dadonov.
With eight minutes remaining in regulation, the Stars were awarded their second power play. However, the Oilers killed their 23rd consecutive penalty before Ekholm sealed the deal with the empty-net goal.
