The Edmonton Oilers are one of the NHL’s most dangerous teams on special teams.
Of the four remaining teams in the playoffs, Edmonton is by far the most lethal when on the power play, scoring 34.9% of the time this postseason.
However, after scoring 15 power-play goals in their first 12 playoff games, the Oilers are scoreless in three tries with the man-advantage in two games against the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference finals. In the first two games, Dallas has drawn twice as many penalties (6-3) as Edmonton, including a double-minor in Game 1′s first overtime period.
Edmonton head coach Kris Knoblauch was asked about the power-play discrepancy following his team’s 3-1 loss to Dallas in Game 2.
“The NHL sometimes, the standard gets changed a little bit, and they would definitely want to make sure it’s a penalty, where in the regular season maybe some things get let go,” Knoblauch said after a brief pause.
“That’s obviously unfortunate for us. We’ve got a very good power play, and we win a lot of games on the power play. It’s unfortunate for us that it’s tougher to draw penalties in the playoffs than it is the regular season. But that being said, the standard’s the same for both teams. I’m not saying that it’s unfair for us, but we would like the same standard.”
"We would like the same standard."
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 26, 2024
Kris Knoblauch discusses the lack of penalties called on the Oilers so far. pic.twitter.com/1IZjXpXeAE
Only two penalties were called, one per side, in Game 2 in the first 58:30 of play. Both Evander Kane of Edmonton and Dallas captain Jamie Benn picked up minor penalties in the waning seconds as the Oilers finished the game with an empty net.
Edmonton was called for four penalties in Game 1 to a lone penalty call against the Stars.
Mason Marchment broke a 1-1 tie at 3:41 of the third period of Game 2 when he deflected a shot by Ryan Suter, sending the puck through the legs of defenseman Vincent Deshamais before it bounced on the ice and went between the right arm and body of goalie Stuart Skinner.
Game 3 is Monday night in Edmonton, where the Stars won 4-3 in their only trip there this season. That was Nov. 2 during the Oilers’ 3-9-1 start that led to Jay Woodcroft getting fired as coach and replaced by Knoblauch.
The Oilers had gone ahead in this series on Connor McDavid’s goal 32 seconds into double overtime for a 3-2 win in Game 1 on Thursday.
The Associated Press contributed to this post.