The Edmonton Oilers took a 2-1 sequence lead within the Western Convention Closing on Sunday due to a 6-1 win over the Dallas Stars. The Oilers have been in full management from the beginning and are actually simply two wins away from a return journey to the Stanley Cup Closing.
Listed here are some takeaways from Sunday’s win.
Connor McDavid appears to be like like a participant on a mission
The one factor McDavid’s profession is lacking at this level is a Stanley Cup ring so as to add to his already spectacular record of private accomplishments. He’s enjoying like a person on a mission to verify he will get that ring this season.
He continued that on Sunday with two targets, serving to to set the stage for Edmonton’s rout.
Coming into Recreation 3 he had scored simply three targets within the playoffs, however was nonetheless main the playoffs with 20 complete factors and making a continuing influence when he was on the ice.
On Sunday, the goal-scoring returned.
That is already McDavid’s seventh two-point recreation of the playoffs, whereas he has recorded a minimum of two factors in 50% of the playoff video games he has performed in his profession (44 out of 88 video games).
Simply to place that quantity in perspective, Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon have recorded two factors in solely 37% of his profession playoff video games. Nikita Kucherov has achieved so in solely 31% of his playoff video games. Matthew Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov have achieved it solely 22% of their playoff video games.
One other nice exhibiting from Stuart Skinner
You simply by no means know which model of Skinner goes to point out up in these video games, however for all of his flaws he’s completely able to happening a heater that provides the Oilers a preventing probability. He did it in final 12 months’s playoffs on their run to a Stanley Cup Closing look. He’s doing it once more this season after reclaiming his beginning job following the harm to Calvin Pickard.
He stopped 33 of 34 photographs in Sunday’s win and has allowed simply six targets in his previous 5 begins (with 5 of these targets coming in a single recreation). He has a .954 save proportion throughout that stretch.
Some main struggles for a few of Dallas’ prime gamers
Whereas McDavid is in full management for the Oilers, a few of Dallas’ prime gamers are preventing it proper now offensively.
Mikko Rantanen has not scored a aim in six video games and has simply two assists over that stretch after serving to to hold the Stars offense earlier within the playoffs.
Wyatt Johnston, certainly one of their finest younger gamers, was a minus-two in Sunday’s recreation and dropped right down to a minus-17 for the playoffs and has only one level (a aim) over his previous 9 video games.
The Stars are going to want extra from these guys if they will get again on this sequence.
