EDMONTON, AB — Sometimes, it's your own people.
The Dallas Stars dropped Game 4 of the NHL's 2024 Western Conference Final 5-2 in Edmonton on Wednesday night -- and two former Stars players directly contributed to the team's defeat.
After the Stars jumped out to an early 2-0 lead thanks to goals from prolific young forwards Logan Stankover and Wyatt Johnston -- and silencing Rogers Place in the process -- the team gave up five straight goals to Edmonton, allowing Edmonton's fans to come back to life and letting the Oilers tie the series up at two wins apiece.
Former Dallas forward Corey Perry, who reached the Stanley Cup Final as a member of the Stars in 2020, set the tone for the Oilers' comeback: After having sat out most of the series so far as a healthy scratch, he contributed an assist to a Ryan McLeod goal that put Edmonton on the scoreboard, and into a position to head to the game's first intermission tied 2-2.
Former Stars forward Mattias Janmark, another member of the 2020 Stanley Cup Final-reaching Dallas team, then scored Edmonton's go-ahead goal in the second period -- and a demoralizing short-hander at that.
Mere seconds later, a Leon Draisaitl goal assisted by fellow Oilers stars Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman all but shut the door on this one.
Edmonton spent much of the the third period all-out defending its own zone, and shutting down the Dallas offense entirely, leading to a third period largely devoid of action -- except for a final, empty-netter goal that came during desperation time for the Stars and moved the final score to 5-2.
That last period and a half, unfortunately, could be a sign of things to come for the Stars, who lost integral trade deadline acquisition and defenseman Chris Tanev to an injury after he blocked a shot with his right lower leg just past the halfway mark of the second period.
With Tanev no longer patrolling the blue line, the Oilers' offense went right to work; their go-ahead goal came just three minutes later.
The Stars officially called Tanev's potential return for the third period "questionable" but he never returned to the bench in this one after he limped his way to the locker room. His future or the rest of the series is now in jeopardy, and with it the Stars' chances of competing with the Oilers moving forward.
Not helping matters? Some meager special teams efforts from the Stars on this night. Perhaps discouraged from their lack of pervious power play success in the series -- Edmonton has now killed a remarkable 23 straight penalties throughout their own playoff run -- the Stars' man-advantage play looked particularly lackluster and sloppy in this one. Not even an Edmonton penalty in the third that potentially cracked the door open for a Stars comeback could muster much out of the Stars' power play.
Now tied, the series will return to Dallas for Game 5, with the puck dropping at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, May 31, at the American Airlines Center.