MIKAEL BACKLUND

Flames Oilers Hockey Edmonton Oilers center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, second from left, celebrates his goal against the Calgary Flames with teammates during the first period of Game 4 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoffs second-round series Tuesday, May 24, 2022, in Edmonton, Alberta. Evander Kane scored his NHL-leading 11th and 12th goals of the postseason, and Zach Hyman added a goal for Edmonton. He has 25 points in 11 playoff games for the Oilers, who earned a third straight victory over their provincial rival. With the Oilers wobbling, Nugent-Hopkins poked in his fourth goal of the playoffs from in front of Markstrom. The goal was the third-fastest in Oilers’ playoff history, just short of McDavid (19 seconds in 2020) and Fernando Pisani (16 seconds in 2006).

Miro Heiskanen scored the go-ahead goal late in the second period and the Dallas Stars beat Calgary 4-2 to force a Game 7 in their first-round Western Conference series.

Rasmus Andersson scored Calgary’s first power-play goal since early in the playoff opener, Jacob Markstrom had 34 saves and the Flames beat the Dallas Stars 4-1 in Game 4 to even their first-round series.

The NHL is in the most difficult position among the four major North American professional sports leagues on vaccinations because seven of its teams are based in Canada.