Suddenly, Oilers have flipped script and look like deeper team than Stars

EDMONTON — You could hear a pin drop in Rogers Place. In an “almost must-win game,” Kris Knoblauch’s words, the Edmonton Oilers were down two before six minutes elapsed.

And the guy who had been raked over the coals in the previous 24 hours, Darnell Nurse, was a dash-2 – even though none of the goals against were his fault. Gulp.

It was quiet everywhere except the Edmonton bench – where Corey Perry piped up.

“After the second goal, I said ‘We’re fine,’” said Perry. “It was a shit bounce. What are you supposed to do? Sit and sulk? The scoreboard said there was still 55 minutes left in the game. I knew once we got our feet under us, our tenacity would take over.”

Tenacious. Relentless. Whatever the buzzword, that was a big boy win. The Oilers scored five unanswered goals to shock the Dallas Stars, 5-2, and even their best-of-seven Western Conference Final at two games apiece.

“I was thinking it was going to be a long night,” Knoblauch said. “It didn’t look very good.”

They tagged an unflappable Jake Oettinger, the goaltender who hadn’t allowed more than two in a road game these playoffs, for seven goals in two games in Oil Country. Then Edmonton perfectly salted away a two-goal lead, comfortably walking the line between aggression and conservative play with the puck.

The comeback was impressive, but more so how they did it. Mattias Janmark netted the game-winner on a shorthanded break shortly before the Oilers killed off their 23rd consecutive penalty. Yes, Edmonton’s penalty killers have scored the only special teams goal in this series. Who had that on their bingo card?

The biggest storyline has been the Stars’ clear advantage in depth. In the wake of Chris Tanev’s injury, that pendulum has now swung to Edmonton’s favor if Tanev is unavailable in a pivotal Game 5.

Stars coach Pete DeBoer said he was “fingers crossed” that Tanev will be available on Friday night. He left in the second period after blocking a shot with his right foot. There were whispers Tanev exited Rogers Place in a walking boot, but Stars officials did not return inquiries – it’s the playoffs.

Between his stops in Calgary and Dallas, Tanev has seemingly gone down the tunnel a couple hundred times this season to walk off a blocked shot. Except this time, he didn’t return, which you know means one of hockey’s true warriors was dealt a significant blow.

Consider: Since signing a four-year deal in Calgary in 2020, Tanev has appeared in 93 percent of his available games. If Tanev is out for the remainder of the series, he’ll have somehow missed at least five of 11 playoff contests against the Oilers – since he sat out three in the Battle of Alberta in 2022 with a bum shoulder.