Oilers beat Stars 4-1, take a commanding 3-1 lead in Western Conference final series

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — The Edmonton Oilers are one win away from a return trip to the Stanley Cup Final.

Leon Draisaitl and Corey Perry each had a power-play goal and an assist and the Oilers took a commanding lead in the Western Conference final series with a 4-1 victory over the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night.

Kasperi Kapanen and Adam Henrique added empty-net goals, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Connor McDavid each had two assists for the Oilers took a 3-1 lead in the series by winning three consecutive games after a third-period collapse cost them the opening game in Dallas. Since that game, Edmonton has outscored Dallas 13-2.

Draisaitl said it was far from easy in Game 4.

“There are going to be some swings in a series. They’re one of the last four teams standing, so they’re going to have their push, and there’s going to be periods where they control the play. That’s just the way it is,” Draisaitl said.

“But I think we’ve managed it really well. (goalie Stuart Skinner) has been incredible when we needed him to be, and our third period was really well played.”

The Oilers are now 9-0 in Game 4s over their past three playoff runs.

Skinner continued to shine in the Edmonton net, making 28 saves in the win.

“How we all played as a team was fantastic and shows a lot of courage, the way that guys are blocking shots,” Skinner said. “For myself, it definitely felt good out there. I’m just trying to give my team the best chance that I possibly can every night.”

Jason Robertson scored for the Stars, who are in danger of being eliminated in the West final by the Oilers for the second year in a row.

“It’s time to reset again, it’s not over until somebody wins four games,” said Stars forward Mikko Rantanen, who has been held scoreless for seven straight games after scoring nine goals in the six previous games. “So, now we go on home ice and it’s just one game at a time. I mean, I don’t even think really what the series is, it’s just try to win one game and come back to Alberta.”

Jake Oettinger recorded 29 stops while taking the loss in the Dallas net, falling to 5-11 in his career in West final contests.

After surviving a flurry of Dallas chances to start the game, the Oilers started the scoring on the power play with 8:37 to play in the opening period as Nugent-Hopkins kept up his hot play in the series, feeding it to Draisaitl who beat Oettinger with a one-timer from a bad angle for his seventh of the playoffs.

There was some cause for concern for Edmonton in the first frame, however, as forward Zach Hyman took an open ice hit from Mason Marchment and left the game with an upper-body injury and did not return.

The Stars tied the game at 1-1 seven minutes into the second period on a nice power-play passing play as Robertson picked the top corner on Skinner for his second goal of the playoffs in as many games.

Edmonton regained the lead on another power play as Nugent-Hopkins made a perfect pass to Perry for an easy tap-in for his sixth, making him just the fifth player aged 40 and older to score in a conference final.

It was Nugent-Hopkins’ fourth consecutive multipoint performance, becoming the first player in 35 years to accomplish that feat in a conference final, and the first Oiler to have nine or more points through the first four games of a conference final since Wayne Gretzky 37 years ago.

Stars forward Roope Hintz returned to the lineup after missing a game. He was helped off the ice late in the third period of Game 2 after being slashed on the top of the left foot by Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse.

AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Dallas Stars' Sam Steel (18) and Edmonton Oilers' Darnell Nurse (25) battle in the corner during the third period in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals in the NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoffs in Edmonton, Alberta, Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP)

Edmonton Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner (74) makes the save against the Dallas Stars during first period NHL Western Conference final playoff action, in Edmonton on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP)

Dallas Stars' Sam Steel (18) and Edmonton Oilers' Corey Perry (90) get tangled up during second period NHL Western Conference final playoff action, in Edmonton on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP)

Dallas Stars' Esa Lindell (23) chases down Edmonton Oilers' Leon Draisaitl (29) as he gets a shot away during second period NHL Western Conference final playoff action, in Edmonton on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP)

Edmonton Oilers players celebrate a goal as Dallas Stars goalie Jake Oettinger (29) and Wyatt Johnston (53) look on during second period NHL Western Conference final playoff action, in Edmonton on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP)

JERUSALEM (AP) — Over two dozen families from one of the few remaining Palestinian Bedouin villages in the central West Bank have packed up and fled their homes in recent days, saying harassment by Jewish settlers living in unauthorized outposts nearby has grown unbearable.

The village, Ras Ein el-Auja, was originally home to some 700 people from more than 100 families that have lived there for decades.

Twenty-six families already left on Thursday, scattering across the territory in search of safer ground, say rights groups. Several other families were packing up and leaving on Sunday.

“We have been suffering greatly from the settlers. Every day, they come on foot, or on tractors, or on horseback with their sheep into our homes. They enter people’s homes daily,” said Nayef Zayed, a resident, as neighbors took down sheep pens and tin structures.

Israel's military and the local settler governing body in the area did not respond to requests for comment.

Other residents pledged to stay put for the time being. That makes them some of the last Palestinians left in the area, said Sarit Michaeli, international director at B’Tselem, an Israeli rights group helping the residents.

She said that mounting settler violence has already emptied neighboring Palestinian hamlets in the dusty corridor of land stretching from Ramallah in the West to Jericho, along the Jordanian border, in the east.

The area is part of the 60% of the West Bank that has remained under full Israeli control under interim peace accords signed in the 1990s. Since the war between Israel and Hamas erupted in October 2023, over 2,000 Palestinians — at least 44 entire communities — have been expelled by settler violence in the area, B'Tselem says.

The turning point for the village came in December, when settlers put up an outpost about 50 meters (yards) from Palestinian homes on the northwestern flank of the village, said Michaeli and Sam Stein, an activist who has been living in the village for a month.

Settlers strolled easily through the village at night. Sheep and laundry went missing. International activists had to begin escorting children to school to keep them safe.

“The settlers attack us day and night, they have displaced us, they harass us in every way” said Eyad Isaac, another resident. “They intimidate the children and women.”

Michaeli said she’s witnessed settlers walk around the village at night, going into homes to film women and children and tampering with the village’s electricity.

The residents said they call the police frequently to ask for help — but it seldom arrives. Settlement expansion has been promoted by successive Israeli governments over nearly six decades. But Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government, which has placed settler leaders in senior positions, has made it a top priority.

That growth has been accompanied by a spike in settler violence, much of it carried out by residents of unauthorized outposts. These outposts often begin with small farms or shepherding that are used to seize land, say Palestinians and anti-settlement activists. United Nations officials warn the trend is changing the map of the West Bank, entrenching Israeli presence in the area.

Some 500,000 Israelis have settled in the West Bank since Israel captured the territory, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast war. Their presence is viewed by most of the international community as illegal and a major obstacle to peace. The Palestinians seek all three areas for a future state.

For now, displaced families of the village have dispersed between other villages near the city of Jericho and near Hebron further south, said residents. Some sold their sheep and are trying to move into the cities.

Others are just dismantling their structures without knowing where to go.

"Where will we go? There’s nowhere. We’re scattered,” said Zayed, the resident, “People’s situation is bad. Very bad.”

An Israeli settler herds his flock near his outpost beside the Palestinian village of Ras Ein al-Auja in the West Bank, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

A Palestinian resident of Ras Ein al-Auja village, West Bank burns trash, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Palestinian children play in the West Bank village of Ras Ein al-Auja, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Palestinian residents of Ras Ein al-Auja village, West Bank pack up their belongings and prepare to leave their homes after deciding to flee mounting settler violence, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Palestinian residents of Ras Ein al-Auja village, West Bank pack up their belongings and prepare to leave their homes after deciding to flee mounting settler violence, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)