Grades, takeaways from the Oilers’ Game 4 win — and the big question for Game 5
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Greg Wyshynski, ESPN
The Edmonton Oilers faced a 2-1 series deficit heading into Game 4, and after two Dallas Stars goals in the first 5:29 of the game, it looked like that could grow to 3-1.
Then the tide turned, significantly.
Ryan McLeod and Evan Bouchard scored in the first, followed by goals from Mattias Janmark and Leon Draisaitl in the second — and an empty-net capper from Mattias Ekholm for good measure. The series is now 2-2 and headed back to Dallas for Game 5 on Friday (8:30 p.m. ET, TNT).
What stood out the most from this game? What trends will continue? And who are the key players to monitor with the series now down to a best-of-3?
Oilers grade: A-
Game 4 was the perfect encapsulation of the Oilers.They had a terrible start, going down 2-0 in the first 5:29 of a must-win game. They roared back to score five unanswered goals, controlled play by limiting Dallas to 22 shots, killed two power plays and scored a shorthanded goal. Goalie Stuart Skinner looked like he was about to fall apart but made key saves — including a great one on Tyler Seguin — to ensure Dallas didn’t score that third goal.
No team in the postseason can look as bad and as good as the Oilers, frequently in the same 20 minutes.
Coach Kris Knoblauch also deserves his flowers for shaking up his roster for Game 5. He swapped in forwards Corey Perry and Ryan McLeod, as well as defenseman Philip Broberg; and swapped out forwards Sam Carrick and Warren Foegele, as well as defenseman Vincent Desharnais. Once again, Knoblauch pushed the right buttons: McLeod scored Edmonton’s first goal to cut the Dallas lead to 2-1, on an assist from Perry; and their line with Leon Draisaitl outshot the Stars 6-1 while on the ice at 5-on-5.
The Oilers credit Knoblauch with saving their season. He’s continued those heroics in the playoffs.
1:20
Oilers take lead with 2 goals in 51 seconds
Mattias Janmark and Leon Draisaitl score in less than a minute of each other to give the Oilers a 4-2 lead over the Stars.
Stars grade: C-
Blowing a 2-0 first-period lead wasn’t the problem. Watching the Oilers score two goals in 51 seconds — a Mattias Janmark shorthanded goal and Leon Draisaitl’s 10th of the postseason — wasn’t the problem.
The problem was just how meekly the Stars lost Game 4 in Edmonton. Dallas had one high-danger shot attempt in the third period against Stuart Skinner.
No passion, no pushback. Now the Oilers have new life in the series.
What we learned in Game 4
Goalies can make stick saves even when they don’t have sticks in their hands.
Late in the first period, Stars goalie Jake Oettinger lost his stick while scrambling to make two saves on an Edmonton power play. Oilers winger Zach Hyman nudged the stick with his skate back off of Oettinger, and it eventually settled with the stick blade draped across the goal line.
Connor McDavid got the puck to Oettinger’s right, saw some daylight between the goalie and the net and fired the puck … directly off the abandoned stick and out of harm’s way for Dallas. McDavid had a look of stunned disbelief on the bench in a 2-2 game.
0:46
‘Unbelievable!’ Jake Oettinger’s unattended stick somehow blocks goal
Jake Oettinger’s stick somehow is placed in the right path to block the Oilers from taking a lead in the first period.
According to the NHL’s official scoresheet, it counted as a missed shot by McDavid rather than a save for Oettinger, which we believe is a serious underestimation of Otter’s precognitive powers.
Players to watch in Game 5
Darnell Nurse. The Edmonton defenseman was a target of derision locally after Game 3, with some openly questioning his future with the team based on his ineffectiveness. He was on the ice for the Stars’ first two goals, including an Esa Lindell shot that deflected off Nurse and into the net to make it 2-0.
But he kept battling. He assisted on McLeod’s goal. He was a physical presence. He delivered 12 hits but didn’t take a minor penalty in 19:19 of ice time. It was a critical performance for an important player.
Jason Robertson. Was the Roberts-issance one and done? The Stars winger went 10 playoff games without a goal before tallying a hat trick in Game 3, thanks in part to the return of Roope Hintz. But Robertson was a minus-2 with no points in Game 4, the sixth time in the postseason he was held without a point and the seventh in which he had a minus-rating.
With the Stars still looking for their first power-play goal of the series, they need the Robertson who showed up for Game 3, with the action shifting back to Dallas for Game 5.
Big question for Game 5: Is Chris Tanev OK?
The Stars defenseman blocked an Evander Kane shot with his right foot with 7:38 left in the second period, and did not return to the game with a lower-body injury. A key acquisition at the trade deadline, Tanev has been a critical part of the Stars’ top four on defense, averaging 23:26 of ice time per game.
He has 68 blocked shots to lead all players in the postseason. Dallas is hoping he’ll be available to block a few more in Game 5. If not, it’s a massive blow to the thinnest area of the Stars’ lineup, and could impact their penalty kill, which is the last thing you want against the Oilers.
After the game, coach Pete DeBoer said “fingers crossed” that Tanev is OK for Game 5.
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Adam Rittenberg
BOULDER, Colo. — Colorado coach Deion Sanders said he feels “healthy and vibrant” after returning to the field for preseason practices after undergoing surgery to remove his bladder after a cancerous tumor was found.
Sanders, 57, said he has been walking at least a mile around campus following Colorado’s practices, which began last week. He was away from the team for the late spring and early summer following the surgery in May. Dr. Janet Kukreja, director of urological oncology at University of Colorado Cancer Center, said July 30 that Sanders, who lost about 25 pounds during his recovery, is “cured of cancer.”
“I’m healthy, I’m vibrant, I’m my old self,” Sanders said. “I’m loving life right now. I’m trying my best to live to the fullest, considering what transpired.”
Sanders credited Colorado’s assistant coaches and support staff for overseeing the program during his absence. The Pro Football Hall of Famer enters his third season as Buffaloes coach this fall.
“They’ve given me tremendous comfort,” Sanders said. “I never had to call 100 times and check on the house, because I felt like the house is going to be OK. That’s why you try your best to hire correct, so you don’t have to check on the house night and day. They did a good job, especially strength and conditioning.”
Colorado improved from four to nine wins in Sanders’ second season, but the team loses Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter, the No. 2 pick in April’s NFL draft, as well as record-setting quarterback Shedeur Sanders, the son of Deion Sanders. The Buffaloes have an influx of new players, including quarterbacks Kaidon Salter and Julian “Ju Ju” Lewis, who are competing for the starting job, as well as new staff members such as Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Marshall Faulk, who is coaching the Buffaloes’ running backs.
Despite the changes and his own health challenges, Deion Sanders expects Colorado to continue ascending. The Buffaloes open the season Aug. 29 when they host Georgia Tech.
“The next phase is we’re going to win differently, but we’re going to win,” Sanders said. “I don’t know if it’s going to be the Hail Mary’s at the end of the game, but it’s going to be hell during the game, because we want to be physical and we want to run the heck out of the football.”
Sanders said it will feel “a little weird, a little strange” to not be coaching Shedeur when the quarterback starts his first NFL preseason game for the Cleveland Browns on Friday night at Carolina. Deion Sanders said he and Shedeur had spoken several times Friday morning. Despite being projected as a top quarterback in the draft, Shedeur Sanders fell to the fifth round.
“A lot of people are approaching it like a preseason game, he’s approaching like a game, and that’s how he’s always approached everything, to prepare and approach it like this is it,” Deion Sanders said. “He’s thankful and appreciative of the opportunity. He don’t get covered in, you know, all the rhetoric in the media.
“Some of the stuff is just ignorant. Some of it is really adolescent, he far surpasses that, and I can’t wait to see him play.”
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Adam Rittenberg
LSU starting quarterback Garrett Nussmeier aggravated the patellar tendinitis he has been dealing with in his knee but will not miss any significant time, coach Brian Kelly said Friday.
Kelly dropped in ahead of a news conference Friday with offensive coordinator Joe Sloan to tell reporters that Nussmeier did not suffer a severe knee injury or even a new one. According to Kelly, Nussmeier has chronic tendinitis in his knee and “probably just planted the wrong way” during Wednesday’s practice.
Nussmeier ranked fifth nationally in passing yards (4,052) last season, his first as LSU’s starter, and projects as an NFL first-round draft pick in 2026.
“It’s not torn, there’s no fraying, there’s none of that,” Kelly said. “This is preexisting. … There’s nothing to really see on film with it, but it pissed it off. He aggravated it a little bit, but he’s good to go.”
Kelly said Nussmeier’s injury ranks 1.5 out of 10 in terms of severity. Asked whether it’s the right or left knee, Kelly said he didn’t know, adding, “It’s not a serious injury. Guys are dealing with tendinitis virtually every day in life.”
LSU opens the season Aug. 30 at Clemson.
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