Edmonton Oilers players try to explain what's wrong with awful penalty kill
The Edmonton Oilers put in a very good first 40 minutes in Game 1 of the Western Conference Final.
Every player was doing their job, limiting the Dallas Stars to perimeter chances and dictating the pace of play in all three areas of the ice. The Oilers were playing a suffocating game and had complete control with a 3-1 lead heading into the third period. And then everything collapsed.
The cause of the failure was no secret, as Edmonton allowed the Stars to score three straight power-play goals to retake the lead and eventually win the game by a score of 6-3. Dallas ended the night going 3/4 on the PP and dropped the Oilers’ overall PK percentage down to a horrid 62.2 per cent, which is second-worst of ALL NHL playoff teams behind only the LA Kings.
That is a far cry from the stellar PK that had a league-best 94.3 per cent success rate during last year’s run to the Stanley Cup Final. So, what’s wrong with this year’s iteration?
“We know we have the ability to get back there,” Ryan Nugent-Hopkins told reporters on Thursday morning. “It can be a confidence thing for sure… when you’re rolling, you’re feeling good, good things happen.
“We’re a fast-paced kill, we don’t give a whole lot of time to other power plays… We can’t dwell on this one, we know we need to be better, and we’re going to try our best to do that.”
#Oilers forwards Connor McDavid & Ryan Nugent-Hopkins address the media today in Dallas. @Enterprise | #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/7e6C5g63n5
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) May 22, 2025
The Oilers have enjoyed a very good playoff run up to this point. Their five-on-five play has been as good as it’s ever been in the Connor McDavid era, depth scorers are finally starting to pull their weight, and while goaltending has been spotty, it’s been able to step up at the right times.
The team’s one blemish has been its inability to execute on the PK. Connor Brown, a regular on the Edmonton penalty kill, told reporters that they aren’t ignoring the struggles.
“We need to make changes early here and make sure we’re on our toes,” Brown said. “It needs to get figured out… Anytime you have a hole in your game, you’re looking at it. We’re not shying away from it; we’re not just pretending it’s going to get fixed without attention to detail and accountability.
“There’s a lot of accountability in that room top to bottom… We’re gonna have to make sure it gets going right from the get-go.”
Edmonton has to avoid taking penalties as well. They handed the Stars three easy opportunities to get back into the game with a few undisciplined plays, and it wound up costing the Oilers.
Corey Perry was asked if avoiding going to the box might cost the Oilers something in the way they play physically, where the veteran disagreed.
“I don’t think it’s been our edge that’s taking penalties,” Perry said. “There have been a lot of stick penalties that we’ve taken… You still have to play on the edge, you still have to play hockey, you still have to do what the Oilers do, and that’s our game.”
Edmonton has a chance to split the first two games of the series in Friday night’s Game 2, and the PK will have to be a lot better if they hope to pull out a victory.