Connor McDavid (97) and Zach Hyman (18) of the Edmonton Oilers, celebrate the Oilers second goal in the first period against the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference Final in Edmonton on Sunday, May 25, 2025. Photo by Shaughn Butts /Postmedia
It has to be really deflating when your very best isn’t good enough.
And who knows what the feeling is when your very best ends up in a 6-1 defeat.
Whatever it is, the Dallas Stars are feeling it right now after they threw everything they had at Stuart Skinner and the Edmonton Oilers Sunday afternoon, only to wind up in an even deeper hole than they were before.
This was one of those games when the Oilers were a few steps away from the top of their game and they still routed the Stars in front of a delirious Rogers Place crowd to take a 2-1 lead in a Western Conference Final that’s be tilting in their favour after an opening-game loss.
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Finding a way when some of the elements they normally rely on aren’t necessarily humming has been a staple of Edmonton’s playoff run and was again in Game 3 — it’s the reason they are two wins away from the Stanley Cup Final.
“You have to,” said Oilers captain Connor McDavid, who scored twice in the win. “You have to win games different ways. You have to have dominant nights. You have to have nights where maybe your goalie is better than theirs.
“You have to have nights where your special teams gets it done. That wasn’t tonight, although I thought the kill was good. You have to find ways to win different games different ways and we did again tonight.”
It was close for a while. The Stars threatened here and there, but each time Dallas rose up and looked like it might be coming back to make a game of it, the Oilers pushed them deeper into a hole.
Whether it was Skinner turning Dallas’ most ferocious attack of the series into a defeat, McDavid sticking in a late-period dagger or Zach (Hit Machine) Hyman burying them for good with a pair of third-period goals, Dallas was on the wrong end of it all day long.
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Edmonton’s top dogs chewed right through the visitors.
Hyman had two goals, an assist, finished plus five and had 10 hits to bring his post-season total to 109. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had three assists. McDavid had two goals. Evan Bouchard had a goal and an assist.
But Skinner made the biggest impact of all. After a slow start that saw him lose the net and get piled on by fans, he’s been nothing short of sensational, laying savage beating after savage beating on his internet haters.
In his last five games he has three shutout wins and the 35-save effort that spelled the difference Sunday afternoon.
“I’m proud of myself for going through everything I’ve had to go through personally,” he said. “It takes a lot of courage to keep on getting up. Especially as a goaltender.
“If you talk to any goalie, that’s just the game. You get hit down so many times and you’ve got to keep on getting up. I’m proud of myself. I’m most proud of the effort I’m putting in.”
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In a second period reminiscent of last year’s series-clinching victory in which Dallas outshot Edmonton 34-10 and lost 2-1, Skinner almost single-handedly beat back any chance that the Stars were coming back. He stopped 21 of 22 shots in the middle frame, allowing Edmonton to break even in a period that saw them outplayed terribly.
“I thought we were fortunate to be up after 40,” said McDavid. “Stu did a great job. We played really solid in front of him in Game 2 and not so solid tonight. He gave us a chance to get our legs into it and gave us a chance to win.”
He kept his own team alive and broke the Stars’ hearts because it was all Dallas in the second period. They outshot Edmonton 12-2 through the first 10 minutes, and 16-4 when they closed it to 2-1 on a deflected point shot through traffic at 15:35.
The Stars tilted the ice badly and were on the verge of fighting their way back. Then, with the shots 20-5, McDavid delivered the killer. With 18.8 seconds left in regulation he ripped a shot into the top corner to make it 3-1.
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“It’s a huge goal there,” said Hyman. “They’re pushing, they’re playing better than us. To re-establish a two-goal leading heading into the third is massive.”
For all that pressure, for all that effort, for all those shots, the Stars were no further ahead at the end of the period than when they started.
“We had a bit of a dip and they had a bit of a push in the second, that’s going to happen,” said Nugent-Hopkins. “He stepped up big time for us and made some big saves. You need your goalie to do that. He definitely stepped up for us.”
Two third-period goals from Hyman and one from John Klingberg has Edmonton in full control of the series.
The game went Edmonton’s way right off the bat, starting with a massive break from the officials that put Dallas in a hole from which they would never escape.
Oilers defenceman Brett Kulak flipped the puck about four feet over the glass and all four officials on the ice missed the delay of game penalty.
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Instead of having to kill a minor, the Oilers scored two goals 36 seconds apart (Evan Bouchard at 14:02 and McDavid at 14:38) and took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission.
They get full marks for scoring the goals, but that’s a killer if you’re the Stars.
The Stars were without centre Roope Hintz, who is out with a bad foot after being slashed by Darnell Nurse. He tried to make a go of it but left the pre-game warmup after a few minutes.
Connor Brown didn’t come out for the third period after taking a heavy hit from Alex Petrovic in the second.
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