Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored twice on the power play and Stuart Skinner took a shutout late into the third period as the Edmonton Oilers defeated the top-seeded Dallas Stars, 3-1 to take a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference final on Friday night.

Philip Broberg had the other goal and Evan Bouchard had a pair of assists for the Oilers, who can advance to their first Stanley Cup Final since 2005-06 with a win at home in Game 6 on Sunday night.

Skinner was perfect until Wyatt Johnson’s goal with 5:51 remaining. He held the Stars scoreless the rest of the way to finish with 19 saves in his second straight win after losses in Games 2 and 3.

There hadn’t been a power-play goal by either team in this series until Nugent-Hopkins scored on a rebound 18 seconds after a penalty in the first period. He struck again just 16 seconds after the Stars took a penalty early in the second period for a 2-0 advantage.

Dallas was limited to six shots on goal halfway through the game and dropped to 4-6 at home this postseason. The Stars are 0 for 11 on the power play in this series.

Evan Bouchard and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored third-period goals to back Stuart Skinner's 38 saves as the Edmonton Oilers got back on track with Monday's 4-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings.

Bouchard and Leon Draisaitl each finished with a goal and an assist as the Oilers halted a three-game losing streak and dealt the surging Kings just their second loss in seven games. 

Edmonton had to rally to do so, as it trailed 2-1 before Draisaitl scored on a power play with 4:04 remaining in the second period.

Skinner then stopped all 14 shots he faced in the third to protect a 3-2 lead he inherited when Bouchard blasted a shot from near the blue line past Los Angeles goaltender David Rittch just 1:25 into the period.

Nugent-Hopkins later put the contest out of reach by scoring off a give-and-go with Connor Brown with 3:29 remaining.

After Los Angeles' Trevor Moore and Edmonton's Zach Hyman traded goals in the first period, Alex Laferriere put the Kings back ahead 7:34 into the second.

Rittich recorded 27 saves for Los Angeles, which had a three-game road winning streak stopped.

Kraken win in shootout as Bruins' skid reaches three games

Kailer Yamamoto scored the lone goal in the shootout as the Seattle Kraken dealt the formidable Boston Bruins a third straight loss by coming through with a 4-3 victory.

Yamamoto opened the shootout by beating Boston goaltender Linus Ullmark glove-side, and Philipp Grubauer made the lead stand by stopping all three Bruins skaters he faced in the deciding phase after making 29 saves in regulation and overtime.

Boston, which got two goals and an assist from David Pastrnak, still managed to extend its point streak to six games when Charlie Coyle scored on a power play with 2:52 left in regulation to forge a 3-3 tie.

The Bruins had lost each of their two most recent games in overtime and are 2-0-4 during the run. 

Pastrnak had the only goal of a first period in which the Bruins recorded an 11-7 shot advantage, then put Boston back ahead late in the second with his 38th of the season. Jordan Eberle had tied the game earlier in the period when Ullmark's attempted clearing pass deflected off the Seattle forward, who promptly tapped the puck into an open net.

The Kraken then took their first lead of the night on third-period goals from Vince Dunn and Oliver Bjorkstrand, the latter coming with 5:30 left in regulation.

Ullmark finished with 24 saves for Boston, which moved one point ahead of the New York Rangers for first place in the Eastern Conference with the result.

Islanders win in overtime to continue Stars' slump

Bo Horvat scored with 2:06 remaining in overtime as the New York Islanders extended the Dallas Stars' recent slump with a 3-2 victory.

Horvat one-timed a feed from Mathew Barzal past Dallas goaltender Scott Wedgewood to hand the Stars a fifth loss in six games (1-2-3), though Dallas did move two points clear of the second-place WInnipeg Jets in the Central Division by forcing overtime. 

The outcome was a familiar one, as Horvat also had the game-winner in overtime when these teams last met in New York on Jan. 21.

Ryan Pulock had a goal and an assist to help the Islanders snap a two-game losing streak, while Ilya Sorokin stopped 30 of 32 shots.

After Pulock registered the lone goal of the first period, the scoring picked up in the second as Matt Duchene converted a Dallas power play to tie the game 7:11 into the period.

Kyle MacLean put New York back ahead later in the second, but the Stars again drew even when Logan Stankoven beat Sorokin with a wrist shot with 1:43 left in the period for his first NHL goal.

Stankoven, playing in his second career NHL game, added an assist on Duchene's goal. 

Wedgewood finished with 25 saves.

 

 

Evan Bouchard's second goal of the game broke a tie early in the third period and sent the resurgent Edmonton Oilers to a 4-3 win over the Minnesota Wild on Friday.

Edmonton won its sixth consecutive game and improved to 8-3-0 under Kris Knoublach, who replaced Jay Woodcroft as head coach on Nov. 12 after the Oilers got off to a 3-9-1 start.

Bouchard added an assist and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had four assists to help the Oilers battle back twice from one-goal deficits. Stars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl each contributed a goal and an assist to back 17 saves from Stuart Skinner.

The Wild were outshot by a 40-20 margin but kept it close throughout behind 36 saves from Marc-Andre Fleury.

After Draisaitl's power-play goal late in the second period forged a 3-3 tie, Bouchard also converted a power-play chance 1:32 into the third to put Edmonton in front.

Bouchard's first of the night gave the Oilers a 1-0 lead after one period, but Matt Boldy and Joel Eriksson Ek each scored in the opening minute of the second to send the Wild ahead. 

McDavid answered just 40 seconds after Eriksson Ek's goal, but Minnesota regained the lead on Connor Dewar's one-timer with 8:02 left in the second.

The Wild have now lost two straight after winning their first four games since John Hynes replaced Dean Evason as head coach on Nov. 28.

Bobrovsky, Panthers extend Penguins' losing streak

Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves and Eetu Luostarinen scored the deciding goal in the third period as the Florida Panthers came through with a 3-1 win over the slumping Pittsburgh Penguins.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Aleksander Barkov also had goals to help the Panthers move to 4-1-1 over their last six games.

Pittsburgh, meanwhile, has now lost four straight (0-2-2) after failing to hold on to a 1-0 lead provided by Reilly Smith's goal 8:05 into the second period.

The Panthers drew even when Ekman-Larsson knocked in a rebound late in the second period, then took a 2-1 edge when Luostarinen sent a loose puck past Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry with 6:10 elapsed in the third.

After Florida killed off a late Pittsburgh power play, Barkov sealed the victory with an empty-net goal with 27 seconds remaining.

Jarry stopped 30 of 32 shots for the Penguins, who went 0 for 3 on the power play and have now gone 13 straight games without a man-advantage goal.

Greaves stars in NHL debut as Blue Jackets top Blues

Jet Greaves stopped 41 shots to win his first NHL game as the Columbus Blue Jackets pulled away for a 5-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues.

Yegor Chinakhov had two of three Columbus goals in the third period to support an outstanding debut from Greaves, called up from the minors Thursday after the Blue Jackets placed regular goaltender Elvis Merzlikins on injured reserve.

The 22-year-old rookie came up with 23 saves alone in the third period, during which Chinakhov scored twice in a span of under six minutes to stretch Columbus' lead to 4-1.

Chinakhov also assisted on Kirill Marchenko's goal that put the Blue Jackets ahead just 1:42 in, though Robert Thomas tied it for St. Louis later in the first period with the first of his two goals.

Adam Fantilli put Columbus back ahead with a shot past Blues goaltender Joel Hofer with 2:59 left in the opening period.

Thomas scored again with 2:22 remaining to get St. Louis within 4-2, but Alexandre Texier's empty-net goal in the final seconds ended any Blues' comeback hopes.

Columbus snapped a three-game losing streak, while the Blues have now dropped three of four. Hofer stopped 17 of 21 shots in defeat.

 

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