Three Thoughts - Oilers Even Series in Gm 4

Stars play worst game of playoffs, will now need to find answers to some big questions

The Stars were at a significant crossroads in their bid to win a Stanley Cup on Wednesday night. A win in Game 4 could have put them right on the brink of a Cup Finals berth with a near certainty of going through. A loss in Game 4 would mean it would be a best-of-three series with a team that knows they can beat you two more times and might feel like a coin flip chance of going either way.

I think we have our answer.

This Western Conference Finals is definitely now on.

The Dallas Stars leaped to a quick 2-0 lead in Edmonton with two goals on two of their earliest shots of the evening and had more than a few opportunities to even make it 3-0. Alas, they did not. They then played some incredibly poor defensive hockey the rest of the way while not threatening to score in the final few periods much at all, losing pretty convincingly, 5-2, to the Oilers in Game 4 of this best-of-seven series. The series is now tied at two games each and will shift back to Dallas for a pivotal Game 5 on Friday night.

These are My Three Thoughts:

–The Stars wanted a fast start in Game 4, given how badly they have started games. They got it and then managed to play poorly for the final 50 minutes in nearly every capacity. They looked second best in to many spots and could not match the Oilers across the board. These are two good hockey teams going at it.