Stars goalie Jake Oettinger makes a crucial save with his DROPPED stick... before Dallas falls to the Oilers in a now-even Western Conference Finals

Dallas Stars goalie Jake Oettinger's biggest save of the night came while his stick was laying on the ice in Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals against the Edmonton Oilers. 

With the game tied at 2-2 late in the first period, Oettinger dropped his stick after a play in front of the net and lost sight of it as Edmonton remained on the attack.

But a shot from Oilers star Connor McDavid that seemed destined for the goal - or at least the post - hit the dropped stick and deflected away from the mouth of the net.

McDavid was seen afterwards shaking his head in shock at his poor luck as the first period ended shortly after.

After the first intermission, Edmonton dominated the game - going on to win 5-2 and evening up the series at two games a piece. 

Mattias Janmark and Leon Draisaitl scored across a 51-second span in the second period to give Edmonton its first lead of the night.

Janmark broke the deadlock on a short-handed, 2-on-1 break with Connor Brown with 5:29 left in the period, and Draisaitl followed with his 10th of the postseason with 4:38 to go.

Game 5 is Friday night in Dallas.

Ryan McLeod, Evan Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm, into a empty net with 1:53 remaining, also scored for Edmonton. Connor McDavid added two assists, and Stuart Skinner made 20 saves.

Wyatt Johnson and Esa Lindell scored as Dallas raced to a 2-0 lead in the first 5 1/2 minutes. McLeod and Bouchard countered for Edmonton late in the period.

Skinner made a big stop on Evgenii Dadonov with the rink still buzzing after the tying burst.

The Stars got their second power play with eight minutes left in regulation, but the Oilers killed their 23rd straight penalty before Ekholm put it away with the empty-netter.

Jake Oettinger stopped 24 shots for Dallas.

Johnston scored his ninth of the playoffs just 58 seconds in when he snapped the puck past Skinner on the first shot of the game.

The crowd gave the Oilers a sarcastic cheer when Edmonton finally got its first shot more than eight minutes into the game.

Edmonton made three lineup changes, inserting defenseman Philip Broberg along with McLeod and fellow forward Corey Perry for Vincent Desharnais, Warren Foegele and Sam Carrick.

Stars defenseman Chris Tanev left in the second period because of a lower-body injury. He didn´t return.