Oilers’ lineup changes pay off in Game 4 win against Stars | NHL.com

EDMONTON — Kris Knoblauch has had a knack for making the right moves since taking over as Edmonton Oilers coach on Nov. 12, and he made a few more in his team’s most important game of the season Wednesday. 

Knoblauch made three lineup changes for Game 4 of the Western Conference Final against the Dallas Stars and was rewarded with a 5-2 win that tied the best-of-7 series 2-2 heading into Game 5 at Dallas on Friday (8:30 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS). 

“There’s not a decision I make without consulting five to 12 people,” Knoblauch said following the win. “There’s a lot of talk and it goes on for quite a while. Here, we talked about changing the forwards, and sometimes it’s a little bit easier than other times and sometimes it (the conversation) goes on for quite a while.

“As for the defensemen, we talked to each and every one of my coaches. I do it together, do it individually and then we follow up. Last night I was talking to Paul [Coffey] on the phone to decide what we wanted to do, and we still hadn’t made the decision that night. We made the decision in the morning.”

For Game 4, Knoblauch reinserted forwards Corey Perry and Ryan McLeod for Warren Foegele and Sam Carrick, and brought in defenseman Philip Broberg for Vincent Desharnais. Broberg had yet to play in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs. 

“After talking with everybody and weighing the pros and cons, because there’s pros and cons with every decision, hopefully we make the right one,” Knoblauch said. “They’re tough especially when the stakes are as high as they are right now.” 

Perry had been a healthy scratch for five games before getting the call Wednesday and assisted on the Oilers’ opening goal by McLeod that cut the Stars lead to 2-1 in the first period. Neither had registered a point prior to that, with Perry having played 10 games and McLeod 14. 

McLeod was a healthy scratch in Game 3 on Monday, a 5-3 loss. 

“When you do get pulled out of the lineup, it’s a tough pill to swallow,” Perry said. “But you put that aside and when you get your name called again you come in and you work hard. I think for myself and ‘Clouder’ it was about being hard on the puck and winning battles, and that’s what we were trying to do.”