May 25, 2025 by Ryan Lotsberg

It was a rare matinee affair for Game 3 of the Western Conference Final between the Edmonton Oilers and the Dallas Stars. A glorious sunny Sunday in Edmonton described how Game 3 went for the Oilers perfectly.

The first period was tightly contested until the Oilers scored two goals in 36 seconds to jump out to a 2-0 with 5:22 left in the opening frame. Jason Robertson scored his first goal of the playoffs to get the Stars on the board in the second period, but the Oilers pulled back ahead by two goals with nineteen seconds left in the period. They added three more goals in the third period for good measure to cap off a 6-1 win on home ice.

Callouts

I’m going to call the referees out for giving Kasperi Kapanen a high sticking penalty when Mikko Rantanen hit himself in the face with his own stick. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a challengeable play and the referees were unable to watch a replay of the incident.

Darnell Nurse lost two battles on the Robertson goal. First, he was leaning on Lian Bischel in the slot, but Bischel managed to get a hard shot away. That shot missed high, and the puck landed on Rantanen’s stick behind the net. Nurse was on Rantanen when he got the puck, but Nurse wasn’t able to tie up Rantanen’s stick. Rantanen fed it out front to Bischel, and Robertson deflected the shot by Stuart Skinner.

Standouts

Prior to Game 3, McDavid only had three goals in the playoffs. He has been creating a lot of opportunities for others, but he hasn’t been scoring. Well, McDavid is officially out of his goal drought. He got two big goals in Game 3. He led a three-on-one rush from the right wing and exchanged passes with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins before slamming a one-timer by Jake Oettinger. That put the Oilers up 2-0 just 36 seconds after they opened the scoring. Then with less than twenty seconds left in the second period, McDavid grabbed a loose puck at the top of the Stars zone, walked down to the faceoff circle, and fired home his second goal of the game. That was a big goal because the Stars had all the momentum in the second period, and that late period goal crushed their souls.

Zach Hyman had two goals in Game 3 as well, both of which came in the third period. He took a stretch pass from Nugent-Hopkins then beat Oettinger over the blocker on the breakaway. Later, he went hard to the net and deflected a perfect pass from Evander Kane by Oettinger. Hyman also added ten hits to his league-leading playoff hit total. Hyman reaching double digits in hits has been a trend in these playoffs. He was also +5 in Game 3.

I don’t normally put more than two players in this section, but Nugent-Hopkins deserves it. He had three primary assists in Game 3. He carried the puck across the Stars zone on a routine three-on-three rush, then he turned back and found Evan Bouchard trailing the play. Bouchard bombed a shot by Oettinger. Nugent-Hopkins had a nice give-and-go with McDavid 36 seconds later. Finally, Nugent-Hopkins hit Hyman with that stretch pass that led to a breakaway goal. Nugent-Hopkins took a massive spill into the end boards in the first period and had to leave the game briefly, but he returned and had a major impact. He now has seven points in the first three games of this series. NUgent-Hopkins has been a standout all series long so far.

Shoutouts

John Klingberg scored his first goal of the playoffs on the powerplay near the end of the game. It has been a long, hard road for Klingeberg to get back to playing the way he is right now. Both of his hips got resurfaced, which caused him to miss over a year of hockey. Then he blocked a shot and broke his foot in February. That got infected after he returned to action from that injury, and he had to miss more time. Now, he’s excelling in the playoffs, and he scored a goal against his former team in the Western Conference Final. Way to go, John!

Kane had three assists in Game 3. The prettiest one was the saucer pass to Hyman for the Oilers’ fifth goal. Kane also had three shots on goal and five hits. He now has ten points in thirteen playoff games this spring. Kane has been fantastic since returning from his core injuries.

Skinner was fantastic once again in Game 3. He earned his first win that wasn’t a shutout in these playoffs, although he was close to getting another one. Skinner stopped 33 of 34 shots en route to the Game 3 victory. He’s looking much more comfortable than he was at the start of the playoffs, which is huge for the Oilers.

Wrap

That was as thorough of a performance as one could expect from the Oilers. They took care of business in Game 3. They gave the fans what they wanted on this glorious sunny Sunday. The Stars got 34 shots on goal, but it didn’t seem like they created many genuinely dangerous chances. They had a big push in the second period, but the Oilers were able to withstand that and come out of the period with a two-goal lead.

Connor Brown left the game in the second period after taking a big hit from Alex Petrovic. Brown has not been participating in practices or morning skates throughout the series thus far, so he was already dealing with a bump or a bruise of some kind. His status will be worth monitoring after that hit from Bischel.

Game 4 goes on Tuesday from Rogers Place.

Related: Callouts, Standouts, and Shoutouts: Oilers blank Stars in Game 2 to even the WCF