


The Dallas Stars are back home and on the verge of their season ending in the Western Conference final for the third year in a row — especially if they don’t start scoring goals again like they did all season.
“We’re generating chances, and it just hasn’t been going in,” Stars forward Sam Steel said Wednesday. “I don’t think we can focus on that too much, or complain about how pucks aren’t going in. We know the recipe and we’re looking to get back to it.”
Dallas is back home for Game 5 tonight, down 3-1 to the Edmonton Oilers after scoring only two goals while losing three consecutive games.
For Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid and the Oilers, this is their first chance at a series clincher. They are trying to advance to their second Stanley Cup Final in a row, and again eliminate the Stars on the way.
“We’ve got a heck of a series here against Dallas, and we have one more win to get too. If we’re fortunate to get that last win, then we’ll be preparing for that next team,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said when asked if there was any worry of his players peeking ahead. “But right now, all our attention is on the Dallas Stars.”
Take out their five-goal outburst in the third period for a 6-3 win in Game 1, with three power-play goals in a 5 1/2-minute span, and the Stars have been outscored 16-3 the other 11 periods in this series. It is only the fourth time Edmonton has allowed a goal or less in three consecutive playoff games, and first since 2006.
This is the same Dallas team that ranked third in the NHL and matched Winnipeg atop the West with 3.35 goals a game in the regular season, and was shut out only once. The Stars have four shutout losses this postseason, including in Game 2 their last time at home.
Dallas star forward Mikko Rantanen has gone seven games without a goal since scoring nine in a six-game span over their first two rounds. His only longer postseason drought was in the first eight playoff games of his career, in 2018 and 2019 with Colorado.
“This is not the time of year to get frustrated, you’re just going to reset, go back at it,” said Rantanen, who is set to play his 99th career playoff game Thursday. “We know we’re a good team, we just (need to) win one game.”
Jets’ Lowry to miss 5-6 months after surgery on hip
Winnipeg Jets captain Adam Lowry is expected to miss five to six months after having hip surgery, the team announced Wednesday.
The timetable for Lowry’s recovery will lead him to miss at least the first month of the 2025-26 regular season. The Jets did not reveal the reason why Lowry required surgery, which took place on Tuesday.