The Oilers made some pivotal adjustments to regain some series momentum.

The Edmonton Oilers have had a thrilling run in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs. After pushing through the Los Angeles Kings and Vancouver Canucks, the Oilers find themselves in a challenging Dallas Stars Western Conference Finals matchup. Edmonton dropped two straight games after their Game 1 victory, but Kris Knoblauch and company made bombshell adjustments that allowed them to rally in Game 4.

How the Oilers rallied for a crucial Game 4 win over the Stars

The Stars responded to Edmonton’s series-opening victory with a 3-2 Game 2 win. Dallas then took a 2-1 series lead with their 5-3 victory on Monday. The Stars began to put the Oilers on the ropes. Yet, Kris Knoblauch and his staff made key rotations to slow Dallas’ attack.

Edmonton inserted three new players in the lineup for Game 4 and left only the top line, the Mattias Ekholm-Evan Bouchard duo, and goalkeeper Stuart Skinner intact, as described by the Athletic’s Daniel Nugent-Bowman.

The Oilers brought in Corey Perry, Ryan McLeod, and Phillip Broberg to replace Warren Foegele, Sam Carrick, and Vincent Desharnais. The changes made the ultimate difference in the team’s makeup.

Perry and McLeod received the plum assignment of playing alongside Leon Draisaitl, bumping Evander Kane and Dylan Holloway down to a line with Adam Henrique. In addition, Phillip Broberg played with Cody Ceci, while lefty Brett Kulak was moved to Darnell Nurse’s right side.

As a result, McLeod was able to get the Oilers on the board with an assist from Perry after the team had gone down 2-0. Edmonton’s role players stepped up huge, and while the adjustment was risky, Leon Draisaitl remained confident in his team’s ability.

“Our depth is good enough that it’s hard for [Kris Knoblauch] to make these decisions,” Draisaitl said. “If you take someone out, you have someone waiting outside your lineup that’s ready to go and wants to make an impact and that’s good enough to make an impact.”

“That’s what good teams have. That’s what winning teams have,” the 28-year-old center added.

Draisaitl and the Oilers do not want their success to end there. They want to ride their momentum into a pivotal Game 5 matchup.

Oilers continue to push in 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs

Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports
Edmonton’s 5-2 Game 4 victory saw them make history. The Oilers have not allowed a power play goal in any of their last eight games, according to Sportsnet Stats. This mark set a franchise record for the Stanley Cup Playoffs and further highlights Edmonton’s penalty kill dominance throughout the postseason.

After amassing a penalty kill percentage of less than 80% during the regular season, the Oilers have leapt to an astonishing 92.9% throughout the playoffs. If they keep up the stout effort, they will have a chance to keep pushing toward the Stanley Cup Finals.

Nevertheless, the Stars will not go down easily. Dallas wants to clean things up and regain the series lead. Pete DeBoer knows his team has a dogfight ahead of them.

“We came here and got a split. It’s two out of three to go to the Stanley Cup. This isn’t supposed to be easy and it’s not supposed to be pretty,” DeBoer said after Wednesday night’s loss, via The Athletic’s Mark Lazerus.

It will be interesting to see which team claims Game 5 in this exciting Western Conference Finals matchup.