May 25th, 2025, 06:35 PM ET
Fans in Edmonton and Dallas have always sung about how they have friends in low places, but only one of them has a high position in the Western Conference Finals. And that’s the Oilers after winning a 2-1 series lead after a 6-1 win on Sunday in Game 3.
With the series tied down on Sunday, the goal of Game 3 was to have a firm grasp of the meeting finals, and the Oilers did that by having five players with multipoint performances. As for the Stars, losing Game 3 followed the second series of this postseason. Only other such events occurred after Game 1 with the Colorado Avalanche in the first round.
With the Oilers in control of the series, what will they mean in the future? What do stars have to do differently before Game 4? Ryan S. Clark and Greg Wysinski look into these questions as they delve into what’s going forward for the two teams who not only faced each other in the conference finals last season, but are also involved in all conference finals since 2020.
Edmonton Oilers
Grade: a
There are many changes whenever the playoffs end. But for now, there could be a debate that this is the most important playoff game the Oilers have this postseason.
Editor’s Pick
2 Related
The Oilers have numerous strong performances, including Game 3 against the Los Angeles Kings in the first round and the final two games against the Vegas Golden Knights in the conference semi-finals. But what made the Oilers’ performance in Game 3 against Dallas undoubtedly the most important thing was that they found a balance between being difficult in the defensive zone, while not relying on shutouts to achieve that objective.
The star finished with 37 shots and finished with 13 Heidanger chances on a 5-for-5 play, scoring only one inning. Conor McDavid has repeatedly emphasized that the Oilers can take the defense, which has been revealed in the last five games. However, Sunday proved that they don’t need Stuart Skinner or their defensive structure to blank out their opponents to win. – Ryan S. Clark
Dallas Star
Grade: C+
The final score does not reflect much of the game. Dallas coach Pete DeBorer can mine positives between many (many) negatives and some mitigation situations. Warm up Roope Hintz, but can’t go from Darnell’s nurse slash in Game 2 due to a sustained foot injury he’s? It’s deflation. Isn’t it the first period that Evan Bouchard missed the game delay to an ice official in the first period to get him to score in 10 seconds? Also shrinkage.
So it’s a credit to the Stars that they reached the game 5-5 in Game 3 than they have in any game in the series, at least before Edmonton scored third. The outcome was not there, the loss is a loss, and losses due to this margin make the stomach difficult to make the stomach go, but their performance from some of their second period and sleepy depth players at least make the stars shine.
But there’s no doubt Edmonton has this in his hand. The star must find a way to solve the Skinner. -Greg Wyshynski
Game 3 3 stars
Two goals and assists in his seventh career multi-goal playoff game. Highman’s second goal was the Oilers’ fourth rushing, the most in one game for any team this postseason. Highman was also on a plus 5 Sunday.
Bouchard scored the sixth goal of the postseason, and these two were on the ice for the first two Edmonton goals. This postseason, 5-5, the Oilers outperform their opponents 7-1 and 5-0 in this series with Bouchard and Crack on the ice.
play
0:48
Conor McDavid restores two-goal lead for the Oilers
Conor McDavid finds behind the net and restores the Oilers’ two-goal lead vs. star.
3. Conor McDavid
C, Euler
All the stories about the lack of goals from the world’s best hockey player (this was odd as he scored 20 points in 13 games and went plus 7 in Game 3 despite only three goals), McDavid punched out a pair of tacks for his sixth career multi-goal playoff game. Also, seeing McDavid on a pack barrel towards the net 3-on-1 is a nightmare fuel for your opponent. -ArdaÖcal
Players in Game 4
Zach Heyman
LW, Oilers
It’s one way to rate Highman, starting from 16 goals in the final postseason, to only three goals into Game 3 of the Conference Finals. The other is to recognize that he is the most physical player on the tallest and heaviest team in the NHL.
Hyman entered Game 3, leading the NHL with 99 hits. He stayed physical Sunday by leading the way with six hits in the game where he saw the Oilers continue their punishment style at 47. Not only does the Oilers have more dimensions than last season’s team, they’ll add to the story that they could be better than the team that finished runner-up in the Stanley Cup in 2024.
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0:53
Zach Hyman’s second goal will make the Oilers 4
Zach Heyman taps the second goal of the game home to raise the Oilers stars and stars to 5-1.
This is the first two games of the Dallas goaltender in the playoffs. Much of what happened in Game 3 wasn’t necessarily to him – McDavid’s beauty and Highman Breakway were one of Edmonton’s tallies – but outside of the third season of Game 1, he didn’t make a difference in this series. According to Stathletes, Oettinger led the playoffs with 5.58 goals, surpassing 5.58 goals. The star was able to depend on him as a slump breaker. However, this is his third game, with a save percentage south of .900 in the series. When the stars try to build on some positives from this game, they need Oettinger to provide the basis for it – and in the process, chants from those “Our Backup!” Oilers fans. -Wyshynski
Big Questions about Game 4
Are the Oilers trying to turn what they did to Golden Knight into a star?
Simply put, the Oilers are the place where hope dies. Teams in the Championship Window that have not yet won titles are constantly being judged for evolution. What the Oilers made to star by winning the final three games in the conference final a year ago showed they could close the series after the trail. This postseason Edmonton shows a calculated and systematic coldness when it comes to cleaning up opponents.
The Golden Knights won Game 3 with their final two-second goal and created a belief that they might have found an opening. They didn’t score again in the rest of the playoffs after being in the top five of goals per game throughout the regular season. Scoring six goals to open the series seemed like a sign the stars might have found an opening. since then? They scored only once in the last six periods, facing questions about what happened to another team that went into the top five in regular season game-by-game goals. – Clark
Can Dallas make Edmonton uncomfortable at all?
Our colleague Mark Messier created this point during the period of Game 3. The stars have yet to do anything to drive McDavid or Leon Drysightle out of their game. That extends to the rest of Oilers. Apart from the extraordinary execution of three power play goals during the third period of Game 1, there were few valuable cases of stars carrying plays for long stretches or scaring Edmonton 5-5.
They had a short advantage in Game 3, plus 14 in shot attempts, 11 in scoring chances and 10-1 in Heidanger shot attempts for a short time. However, they were digging out of the 2-0 hole and were able to get only one of their goals on the board, and McDavid stuck them with the dagger in the second with the rest of the 19 seconds.
The stars need leads. Zone time is required. They need to progress through the rush game: Skinner had a save percentage of .897 on shots from rush into the game. Edmonton plays with the confidence of the champion. Dallas has to find a way to pour a little doubt on his opponent. Otherwise, the series will soon be over. -Wyshynski
