May 28, 2025 by Ryan Lotsberg

Roope Hintz returned to the Dallas Stars lineup for Game 4 of the Western Conference Final, but that wasn’t enough to take down the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place. The Oilers got on the board first for the fourth consecutive game with a powerplay marker at the 11:23 mark of the first period. Jason Robertson responded with a powerplay goal of his own nearly seven minutes into the second period, but the Oilers got another powerplay goal less than three minutes later. Two empty net goals by the Oilers gave them a 4-1 victory in Game 4.

Callouts

The Oilers came out slowly in Game 4. The Stars outshot the Oilers 16-10 and outchanced them 20-8 (71.43%) at five-on-five in the first period. Five-on-five high danger scoring chances were 6-2 for the Stars. The Oilers came out of that period with the lead, but that is the exception rather than the norm.

The Oilers have had one bad period in each of the four games in this series. They allowed three powerplay goals in six minutes to the Stars in the third period of Game 1. The Stars took it to the Oilers at five-on-five in the third period of Game 2, the second period of Game 3, and the first period of Game 4. They will need a full sixty minutes in one game if they want to close out the Stars.

Standouts

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’s historic Western Conference Final continued in Game 4. He had two primary assists. The first was a give-and-go with Leon Draisaitl on the powerplay. Draisaitl gained zone entry, dished it to Nugent-Hopkins in the bumper spot, kept going down the right wing, received a return pass from Nugent-Hopkins, and fired it by Jake Oettinger. The second was a patient and skillful powerplay assist. Nugent-Hopkins made a slick toe drag around the outstretched stick of Cody Ceci, then he slid it under Ceci’s stick to Corey Perry for a tap-in.

Related: Nugent-Hopkins is thriving in the Western Conference Final

Nugent-Hopkins became the fourth player ever to record multiple points in four consecutive games to begin an NHL Conference Final series joining Wayne Gretzky (1983 and 1988), Cam Neely (1990), and Craig Janney (1990) according to Sportsnet Stats (@SNStats). Draisaitl said that Nugent-Hopkins is “the best player in this series” after the game. That’s high praise.

Players with multiple points in 4 straight games to begin a Conference Final

Wayne Gretzky (1983 Oilers)
Wayne Gretzky (1988 Oilers)
Cam Neely (1990 Bruins)
Craig Janney (1990 Bruins)
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (2025 Oilers) pic.twitter.com/M4f7eZ3giP

— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) May 28, 2025

Stuart Skinner was tremendous once again in Game 4. He was the biggest reason that the Oilers had the lead after the first period. He made sixteen saves in the opening frame while keeping the surging Stars off the board. Skinner has stopped 86 of his last 88 shots going back to Game 2 of this series, including 28 saves on 29 shots (.966) in Game 4. He has simply been outstanding.

Shoutouts

Corey Perry scored his sixth goal of the playoffs. He added an assist and he had four hits. The 40-year old also led the team with a 77.97% five-on-five xGF%. Sportsnet showed a graphic during the broadcast that pointed out that his 230 career playoff games are more than any team has had since the year 2000.

Leon Draisaitl had a goal and an assist. He quietly has seven points in the series so far. It’s not often that kind of production is overshadowed, but Nugent-Hopkins is overshadowing Draisaitl in this series.

Connor McDavid had two assists in Game 4. Like Draisaitl, he also now has seven points in the series.

Adam Henrique scored an empty netter for his fourth goal of the playoffs. He also led all Oilers forwards with five shots on goal.

Wrap

Aside from the Oilers going up 3-1 in the series and putting the Stars on the ropes, the biggest story to emerge from Game 4 was the injury to Zach Hyman. Mason Marchment tried to hit Hyman in open ice near the Oilers blue line. Hyman saw him coming at the last moment, put his hands up to protect himself, and ultimately ended up breaking his wrist. Hyman had surgery on the injured wrist on Wednesday morning, but Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch confirmed that Hyman’s season is done.

Marchment had this to say after the Game 2 slashing incident that took Hintz out of the lineup: 

“A lot of that stuff, you just keep in the back of your mind, and if the opportunity presents itself then, you take your chance. We’ve got a long series here.”

It didn’t look like a play where Marchment was intentionally trying to break Hyman’s wrist, but he got his retribution for the Hintz slash whether he was trying to or not.

For the sake of objectivity, I will also point out that Evan Bouchard slashed Hintz in the same spot where Darnell Nurse slashed him to cause the injury. That was a dirty play by Bouchard. I was kind of surprised to see that from Bouchard of all people. Teams don’t share specifics about injuries for that very reason. Players target known injuries. It sucks, and it’s dirty; but it’s unfortunately commonplace. I’m not excusing it. I’m just shedding light on the reality of hockey culture.

Game 5 in Dallas should be a spicy one because of all the drama and the hate that is building between these two teams. If we haven’t seen the best of the Stars by now, then we should expect to see it with their backs against the wall at home in Game 5 on Thursday night.

Related: Callouts, Standouts, and Shoutouts: Oilers leave Dallas seeing Stars after 6-1 Game 3 blowout