Stanley Cup Playoffs Day 42: Oilers power play finally wakes up to take 3-2 series lead

There was a lot of anxiety for the Dallas Stars going into Game 5 against the Edmonton Oilers. Not only did they blow an early two-goal lead in Game 4, Chris Tanev also got hurt in the game and his status for Game 5 was still up in the air. Well, they don’t have to worry about the latter, because Tanev was back in the lineup.

The bad news? The first period didn’t exactly go the way the Stars wanted. Despite both teams trading chances, Dallas was punished for a careless penalty from Ryan Suter, as the Oilers converted on their only man advantage of the period with a goal from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, which was also their first power play goal of the series.

Apparently that was just what the Oilers needed to rejuvenate their power play. They got another one 50 seconds into the second period after Miro Heiskanen put the puck over the glass, and they needed just 16 seconds to get another goal on the man advantage, and once again, it was Nugent-Hopkins that got the goal.

Four minutes later, the Oilers got another goal, as Philip Broberg got his first career playoff goal with a slapshot from the point right off the faceoff. All of a sudden, Edmonton had a comfortable 3-0 lead.

The Stars did get one goal back in the third period, as Wyatt Johnston tipped in a shot from Thomas Harley with six minutes left to make the Oilers a little bit uncomfortable, but that didn’t seem to matter. Even with the Stars pressing to get closer to a tie, they couldn’t get another one, and Edmonton takes the game by a score of 3-1, with a chance to go home and punch their ticket to the Stanley Cup Final in Game 6 with the series now 3-2 in their favour. Nugent-Hopkins scored twice, Evan Bouchard had two assists, and Stuart Skinner was excellent by stopping 19 of the 20 shots that he faced in the win.