With the Edmonton Oilers shut out and down two goals late in the first period of Game 4 Thursday night, spectators at Rogers Place were quiet, seemingly bewildered at the early, quick scoring of the Dallas Stars and the slow start by the home team.
Ryan McLeod’s marker with six-and-a-half minutes in the opening frame left changed all that.
The Oilers forward, who returned to the lineup after being scratched the previous game, scored off a rebound to make the score 2-1 to give his team, and the crowd, life.
Less than three minutes later, defenceman Evan Bouchard swatted in a rebound off a Connor McDavid shot, sending the two sides to their dressing rooms with a tie game.
In a second period dominated by Edmonton, Mattias Janmark put the Oilers ahead 3-2 with a shorthanded goal, followed less than a minute later by a goal from Leon Draisaitl, who hadn’t registered a point since Game 1 of the Western Conference Final.
In the third period, with the Stars pressing, Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner made several stops, including a chance with 7:07 left by Dallas captain Jamie Benn, whose shot from the slot Skinner managed to swat away.
Oilers defenceman Mattias Ekholm added an empty-net goal to cap the scoring, finding the net from the corner in the Oilers zone.
The 5-2 Oilers win tied the best-of-seven Western Conference Final at two games each.
The series shifts to Dallas for Game 5 on Friday, with Game 6 back in Edmonton on Sunday.