All series long, they fought the President's Trophy winners game for game, hit for hit, goal for goal. They played their hearts out and while it would have been enough against most teams to complete their third straight Round 1 upset, the Oilers feel just short again in game 4 as the Stars completed the sweep.

Joe Niewendyk finally put the winner home with 2:26 left in the third OT period to give Dallas a 3-2 win and a first round sweep. Niewendyk scored the goal when he deflected Sergei Zubov's shot home. Tommy Salo who had made 53 saves on this night couldn't stop it, giving Dallas the win.

The Oilers who were outshot 56-39 in the game and 11-2 in the third OT period were forced to play most of the game after Doug Weight was cut in the face by a teamates' skate in the first period. After Jiri Lehtinen hit Ryan Smythe into the boards, Smythe's skate cut Weight, forcing him to leave the game. Smythe managed to atone and score the games first goal before Dallas tied it up before the second intermission. Edmonton would regain the lead on a Todd Marchant goal before Jamie Langdenbrunner tied the game up at 11:05 on a goal which forced overtime.


Missed it by this much

Once again, they came up short. Edmonton now finds themselves in a 2-0 hole at the hands of the mighty Dallas Stars as a 3-2 loss in game 2 of their best-of-seven series. The Oilers fought hard and beat up on this Dallas team but it would not be enough for the Oilers who were hoping to come home with the series tied up.
"I thought that things were an absolute battle out there," said Oilers coach Ron Lowe. "Both teams went at it hard."

Guy Carboneau opened the scoring in the first period with his second goal of the series. A scoreless second period followed before a nail-biting third. Mike Grier drew the Oilers even when he scored at 8:32 with Marchant and Moreau drawing assists. But the fans in Dallas were treated to two goals by Lehtinen and Langdenbruner to give the home side a 3-1 lead before Doug Weight made it close with a goal of his own with 3:11 remaining.

The Oilers know that pulling off an upset seems even more unprobable now but they will head home where they’ve had some success in past playoff series. And the Stars won’t take anything for granted against this team which has played them tougher than they expected in the first two games.
"We’ve still got our work cut out for us," Mike Modano said. "I know that they’re not going to back down."

We’ll find out if the Oilers will back down or not come Sunday.