EDGE stats from Stars-Oilers Western Conference Final after Game 4

NHL.com's fantasy staff continues to cover the latest trends and storylines in the League through the lens of NHL EDGE puck and player tracker stats. Today, we provide three advanced stats insights on the Western Conference Final series between the Dallas Stars and Edmonton Oilers.

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The Edmonton Oilers are one win away from reaching their second straight Stanley Cup Final after defeating the Dallas Stars 4-1 in Game 4 of the Western Conference Final on Tuesday. The Oilers scored go-ahead power-play goals by Leon Draisaitl in the first period and Corey Perry in the second period and got multipoint games from both Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to win their third consecutive game in this series and for the 11th time in the past 13 games. Edmonton, which is 2-0 in potential series-clinching games this postseason, can close out the Stars in Game 5 on Thursday.

The Oilers, who have not trailed since Game 1, also got a pair of empty-net goals from Kasperi Kapanen and Adam Henrique, as well as 28 saves from goalie Stuart Skinner, who is 5-1 with a .957 save percentage, 1.15 goals-against average and three shutouts in his past six starts.

Here are three key advanced stats insights from the Stars-Oilers series so far:

1. Skinner's saves by location

The Oilers have allowed one goal or fewer to the Stars in three straight games, tied for the longest stretch within one playoff series in franchise history; they also achieved this feat in Games 5-7 of the 1998 Western Conference Quarterfinals against the Colorado Avalanche. In his five wins this postseason, Skinner has a .985 save percentage and 0.39 goals-against average. Since Game 2 of the Western Conference Final, Skinner has stopped 19 of 20 high-danger shots faced (including all seven in Game 4), 17 of 18 midrange shots faced and all 18 long-range shots faced.

NHL EDGE IQ, powered by Amazon Web Services, uses "Projected Goal Rate" (PGR) to estimate the likelihood of a shot attempt becoming a goal at the point of puck release. The actual goal rate (AGR) of all shots this season across the League is 5.1 percent. For context, anything at or above a PGR of 12.0 percent is considered a high-probability attempt. In the past three games, the Stars have generated 13 high-probability attempts with seven saved by Skinner and six missing the net (no goals or shots blocked).

Skinner has stopped 29 of his past 32 high-danger shots faced (.906 high-danger save percentage) since Game 4 of the Western Conference Second Round against the Vegas Golden Knights. He had 15 high-danger saves on 24 shots faced (.625 high-danger save percentage) over his first three playoff starts. Skinner's improvement, as well as his team's ability to limit Dallas' high-powered offense, has gone a long way in securing three straight victories.

2. Oilers' quick-strike offense

The Oilers have scored at least three goals in 13 of their 15 postseason games and lead the League among teams who advanced past the first round in terms of goals per game (3.93). Edmonton has seized control of this Western Conference Final thanks to a power play that has scored in all four games, including twice (on three opportunities) in Game 4. Nugent-Hopkins, who had primary assists on both Edmonton power-play goals, has nine points (two goals, seven assists) in the series, the most by an Oilers player in the first four games of a conference final since Wayne Gretzky in 1988 (10 points against Detroit Red Wings).

Nugent-Hopkins (five) trails only his frequent linemate and NHL leader in points this postseason, McDavid (six), in terms of high-danger shots on goal in the conference finals. Perry, who scored his first high-danger goal of the series in Game 4, now has five such goals in 15 games this postseason to match Matthew Knies of the Toronto Maple Leafs for the League lead.

The Oilers continued to use their speed to generate quick-strike offense in Game 4, as Draisaitl's power-play goal came off the rush; NHL EDGE IQ, powered by AWS, defines a goal off the rush as one that is scored within five seconds of the puck crossing the offensive blue line. Edmonton has scored seven goals off the rush in the series while Dallas has just two such goals, both by Tyler Seguin and both in Game 1.

McDavid has led, each game of the Western Conference Final in 20-plus mph speed bursts:

• Game 1: 14 speed bursts over 20 mph (nine more than any other skater)
• Game 2: 9 speed bursts over 20 mph (six more than any other skater)
• Game 3: 10 speed bursts over 20 mph (six more than any other skater)
• Game 4: 5 speed bursts over 20 mph (one more than any other skater)

Edmonton and Dallas were the top two teams this postseason in terms of 20-plus mph speed bursts entering the series. Through four games played, Edmonton has a 121-76 advantage in that category.

3. Stars' "Ice Tilt"

Despite losing three straight games to put themselves on the brink of elimination, Dallas (53.9) has the advantage in 5-on-5 shot attempts percentage over Edmonton (46.1) in the series, as well as a better offensive zone time percentage (44.3 to 39.8). Per NHL EDGE IQ, powered by AWS, “Ice Tilt” quantifies territorial momentum based on which team has the advantage (and by what margin) at any given point during game play.

While offensive zone time percentage is the percentage of time that the puck spends in the offensive zone while the game clock is running, “Ice Tilt” uses the average location of all skaters on the ice over the preceding two-minute rolling span to gauge which team has the territorial momentum. Dallas controlled the “Ice Tilt” in both the first (14:27 to 5:32) and second (12:54 to 8:40) periods against Edmonton in Game 4 and also had the advantage in that category over the entire game (36:01 to 23:50). But Dallas again allowed the first goal, playing from behind for most of the game; Game 4 marked he 14th time in 17 playoff games that they’ve trailed first, including each of the first four games of the series.

While Jason Robertson scored twice on nine shots on goal over the past two games, none of his teammates have been able to find the back of the net during that same span. Mikko Rantanen, who led the playoffs with 19 points (nine goals, 10 assists) in 13 games entering the conference final, has now gone seven straight games without scoring. Getting their key players to bounce back and playing from ahead might be the key to a comeback in this series.

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EDGE stats team comparison: DAL vs. EDM

Read more: Eastern Conference Final insights