EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Zach Hyman had two goals and an assist, Connor McDavid added two goals and the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Dallas Stars 6-1 on Sunday, taking a 2-1 lead in their Western Conference final series.
Evan Bouchard, with a goal and an assist, and John Klingberg also scored for the Oilers, with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins added three assists. Nugent-Hopkins has multipoint efforts in every game of the series, becoming the only Oiler in franchise history other than Wayne Gretzky with more than one point in the first three games of a conference final.
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Dallas Stars' Wyatt Johnston (53) is stopped by Edmonton Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner (74) the first period of Game 3 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Western Conference final in Edmonton, Alberta, Sunday, May 25, 2025. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP)
Dallas Stars goalie Jake Oettinger (29) makes a save against the Edmonton Oilers during the second period of Game 3 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Western Conference final in Edmonton, Alberta, Sunday, May 25, 2025. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP)
Dallas Stars' Jason Robertson (21) chases Edmonton Oilers' Vasily Podkolzin (92) during the nsecond period of Game 3 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Western Conference final in Edmonton, Alberta, Sunday, May 25, 2025. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP)
Edmonton Oilers players celebrate a goal against the Dallas Stars during the first period of Game 3 of the Western Conference finals in the NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoffs in Edmonton, Alberta, Sunday, May 25, 2025. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP)
Dallas Stars' Sam Steel (18) sprays Edmonton Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner (74) with ice during the first period of Game 3 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Western Conference final in Edmonton, Alberta, Sunday, May 25, 2025. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP)
“You have to have dominant nights, you have to have nights where maybe your goalie is better than theirs,” McDavid said. “You have to find ways to win different games different ways and we did again tonight.”
Stuart Skinner was impressive once again in the Edmonton net, making 33 saves to improve to 4-4 in postseason play, his first victory in the playoffs that wasn’t a shutout.
“For him, to be able to battle back the way he has is just really impressive,” said Hyman. “I think a lot of people were counting him out and he came in and has been phenomenal and a big reason we’re up 2-1.”
Skinner struggled to start the postseason and was replaced by backup Calvin Pickard, only to be brought back in when Pickard was injured. He is pleased with how he has tackled the many challenges.
“I’m proud of myself for going through everything I’ve had to go through personally,” said Skinner, who has only allowed one goal in his last two outings. “It takes a lot of courage to keep on getting up. Especially as a goaltender. If you talk to any goalie, that’s just the game. You get hit down so many times and you’ve got to keep on getting up.”
The Oilers have won two straight since their third-period collapse in Game 1 in Dallas.
Jason Robertson scored for the Stars, who are hoping to avoid being knocked out in the third round by the Oilers for a second consecutive season.
The Stars were without forward Roope Hintz, who was tied for second in team scoring entering the game. Hintz had to be helped off the ice late in the third period of Game 2 after he was slashed on the top of the left foot by Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse.
“Tonight, we’re without our No. 1 center, we’re on the road here in a tough environment. I thought we played a really good hockey game for a good stretch of that game,” said Stars coach Pete DeBoer.
“So, there’s nothing to get emotional or upset about, I think you have to be realistic with your group. I liked our compete tonight, I liked a lot of parts of our game and we’ve got to build on that and hopefully get Roope Hintz back and get back in this series.
“We don’t have to win three games in this building, we’ve just got to win one and win our home games.”
Jake Oettinger stopped 18 shots in Dallas’ net, falling to 5-10 in his career in West final contests.
Game 4 will be in Edmonton on Tuesday.
AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Dallas Stars' Wyatt Johnston (53) is stopped by Edmonton Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner (74) the first period of Game 3 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Western Conference final in Edmonton, Alberta, Sunday, May 25, 2025. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP)
Dallas Stars goalie Jake Oettinger (29) makes a save against the Edmonton Oilers during the second period of Game 3 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Western Conference final in Edmonton, Alberta, Sunday, May 25, 2025. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP)
Dallas Stars' Jason Robertson (21) chases Edmonton Oilers' Vasily Podkolzin (92) during the nsecond period of Game 3 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Western Conference final in Edmonton, Alberta, Sunday, May 25, 2025. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP)
Edmonton Oilers players celebrate a goal against the Dallas Stars during the first period of Game 3 of the Western Conference finals in the NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoffs in Edmonton, Alberta, Sunday, May 25, 2025. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP)
Dallas Stars' Sam Steel (18) sprays Edmonton Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner (74) with ice during the first period of Game 3 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Western Conference final in Edmonton, Alberta, Sunday, May 25, 2025. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP)
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Venezuelans on Saturday were scrambling to understand who is in charge of their country after a U.S. military operation that captured President Nicolás Maduro.
President Donald Trump delivered a shocking pick: The United States, perhaps in coordination with one of Maduro's most trusted aides.
Delcy Rodríguez has served as Maduro's vice president since 2018, overseeing much of Venezuela's oil-dependent economy as well as its feared intelligence service. But she is someone the Trump administration apparently is willing to work with, at least for now.
“She’s essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again,” Trump told reporters of Rodríguez, who faced U.S. sanctions during Trump’s first administration for her role in undermining Venezuelan democracy.
In a major snub, Trump said opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who was awarded last year's Nobel Peace Prize, didn't have the support to run the country.
Trump said Rodríguez had a long conversation with Secretary of State Marco Rubio in which Trump claimed she said, “‘We’ll do whatever you need.’”
“I think she was quite gracious,” Trump added. “We can’t take a chance that somebody else takes over Venezuela that doesn’t have the good of the Venezuelan people in mind.”
Rodríguez tried to project strength and unity among the ruling party's many factions, downplaying any hint of betrayal. In remarks on state TV, she demanded the immediate release of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and denounced the U.S. operation as a flagrant violation of the United Nations charter.
“There is only one president in this country, and his name is Nicolás Maduro," Rodríguez said, surrounded by top civilian officials and military commanders.
There was no immediate sign that the U.S. was running Venezuela.
“What will happen tomorrow? What will happen in the next hour? Nobody knows,” Caracas resident Juan Pablo Petrone said.
Trump indicated that Rodríguez had been sworn in already as president of Venezuela, per the transfer of power outlined in the constitution. However, state television has not broadcast any swearing-in ceremony.
In her televised address, Rodríguez did not declare herself acting president or mention a political transition. A ticker at the bottom of the screen identified her as the vice president. She gave no sign that she would be cooperating with the U.S.
“What is being done to Venezuela is an atrocity that violates international law,” she said. “History and justice will make the extremists who promoted this armed aggression pay.”
The Venezuelan constitution also says a new election must be called within a month in the event of the president’s absence.
But experts have been debating whether the succession scenario would apply here, given the government’s lack of popular legitimacy and the extraordinary U.S. military intervention.
Venezuelan military officials were quick to project defiance in video messages.
“They have attacked us but will not break us,” said Defense Minister Gen. Vladimir Padrino López, dressed in fatigues.
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello appeared on state TV in a helmet and flak jacket, urging Venezuelans to “trust in the political leadership and military” and “get out on the streets” to defend the country’s sovereignty.
“These rats attacked and they will regret what they did,” he said of the U.S.
A lawyer educated in Britain and France, Rodríguez has a long history of representing the revolution started by the late Hugo Chávez on the world stage.
She and her brother, Jorge Rodríguez, head of the Maduro-controlled National Assembly, have strong leftist credentials born from tragedy. Their father was a socialist leader who died in police custody in the 1970s, a crime that shook many activists of the era, including a young Maduro.
Unlike many in Maduro’s inner circle, the Rodríguez siblings have avoided criminal indictment in the U.S. Delcy Rodríguez has developed strong ties with Republicans in the oil industry and on Wall Street who balked at the notion of U.S.-led regime change.
Among her past interlocutors was Blackwater founder Erik Prince and, more recently, Richard Grenell, a Trump special envoy who tried to negotiate a deal with Maduro for greater U.S. influence in Venezuela.
Fluent in English, Rodríguez is sometimes portrayed as a well-educated moderate in contrast to the military hardliners who took up arms with Chávez against Venezuela's democratically elected president in the 1990s.
Many of them, especially Cabello, are wanted in the U.S. on drug trafficking charges and stand accused of serious human rights abuses. But they continue to hold sway over the armed forces, the traditional arbiter of political disputes in Venezuela.
That presents major challenges to Rodríguez asserting authority. But experts say that Venezuela’s power brokers have long had a habit of closing ranks behind their leaders.
“These leaders have all seen the value of staying united. Cabello has always taken a second seat or third seat, knowing that his fate is tied up with Maduro’s, and now he very well might do that again,” said David Smilde, a sociology professor at Tulane University who has conducted research into Venezuela's political dynamics over the past three decades.
“A lot depends on what happened last night, which officials were taken out, what the state of the military looks like now," Smilde said. "If it doesn’t have much firepower anymore, they’re more vulnerable and diminished and it will be easier for her to gain control.”
Shortly before Trump's press conference, Machado, the opposition leader, called on her ally Edmundo González — a retired diplomat widely considered to have won the country’s disputed 2024 presidential election — to “immediately assume his constitutional mandate and be recognized as commander-in-chief."
In an triumphant statement, Machado promised that her movement would “restore order, free political prisoners, build an exceptional country and bring our children back home.”
She added: “Today we are prepared to assert our mandate and take power."
Asked about Machado, Trump was blunt: “I think it would be very tough for (Machado) to be the leader," he said.
“She doesn’t have the support or respect within the country.”
Venezuelans expressed shock, with many speculating on social media that Trump had mixed up the two women's names. Machado has not responded to Trump's remarks.
Goodman reported from Miami.
Venezuelan Vice President and Oil Minister Delcy Rodriguez gives a press conference at the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, March 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, File)
A supporter of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro stands on a median strip waving a national flag in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Maduro had been captured and flown out of the country. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
