Trailing by 2, Dallas gets 3 straight on power play to spark comeback win
Oilers at Stars | Recap | WCF, Game 1
DALLAS — The Dallas Stars rallied from a two-goal deficit to defeat the Edmonton Oilers 6-3 with five goals — three straight on the power play — scored in the third period of Game 1 of the Western Conference Final at American Airlines Center on Wednesday.
“I didn’t feel we had played our best yet and it’s really tough to get to this point and if you are going to lose a game at this point in the year, you want to make sure the other team has to earn it,” Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said. “I didn’t feel through 40 minutes that we had made them earn the position they were in. So, guys responded. We got fortunate. We got some power-play goals. Happy for our power play. It took a lot of heat last year at this point of the year. It was the difference tonight for us, so it’s great.”
In last year’s Western Conference Final matchup between Dallas and Edmonton, Dallas went 0-for-14 on the power play.
Game 2 of the best-of-7 series is here on Friday (8:00 p.m. ET; ESPN, ESPN+, SN, CBC, TVAS).
Tyler Seguin scored twice and had an assist and Miro Heiskanen and Mikael Granlund each had a goal and an assist for Dallas, which is the No. 2 seed from the Central Division. Jake Oettinger made 24 saves.
“It doesn’t matter if we’re down two goals, however many goals, we never quit. There’s always a chance to come back and we feel like if we play like that, pressure the [defensemen] and play in their zone more, it’s always a chance to win,” Heiskanen said. “Great third. If we keep doing that, it’s going to be good.”
EDM@DAL, Gm1: Stars net 3 PPGs in the 3rd period to take the lead
Leon Draisaitl had a goal and two assists, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had a goal and an assist and Connor McDavid had two assists for Edmonton, which is the No. 3 seed from the Pacific Division. Stuart Skinner made 22 saves.
“Obviously we let down our guard for five or six minutes, got into some penalty trouble. They were coming out hot, momentum kind of shifted for them in that moment and obviously it bit us. We let it slip for a little bit,” Skinner said. “It’s a tough pill to swallow. You just can’t be doing that, especially at playoff time, especially against a team like this, they know how to score goals.”
The Oilers brought a 3-1 lead into the third period before Heiskanen cut the lead to 3-2 on the power play when his shot from the point got past a screened Skinner 32 seconds into the period to start the comeback.
“Going into the series, knew that special teams was going to be a big part of it. Tonight with them getting three [power-play goals] in the third period, obviously that changes some things. Even after they got the first one, you could just see our guys felt really good before and after we just took a step back,” Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said. “They get that one shot through that ends up being a goal, and that changes the momentum. They feel better about their game, they’re only chasing by one, and then it’s another penalty that we can’t kill.”
Granlund scored the second power-play goal of the period to tie it 3-3 at 3:49 on a shot from the top of the right face-off circle and Matt Duchene made it three straight Dallas power play goals when his shot banked in off Nugent-Hopkins in a netfront scramble for a 4-3 Dallas lead at 5:58.
“We have to kill better. It’s as simple as that. They have a good power play, but when we’re playing the way we can, and we’ve shown it in the playoffs, our penalty kill can be very good, too,” Edmonton defenseman Darnell Nurse said. “We have to be better in that department, all of us, to a man. Whether it’s a won battle, a clear, a block, whatever play has to be made on the [penalty kill], we have to make it and we didn’t do that enough tonight.”
Draisaitl scored at 10:19 in the first period to give Edmonton a 1-0 lead on a shot from the bottom of the right face-off circle that beat Oettinger far-side corner.
EDM@DAL, Gm1: Draisaitl strikes first in Game 1 of the Western Conference Final
Seguin tied it 1-1 at 15:22 on a breakaway shot from the slot that beat Skinner glove-side. The goal ended a shutout streak by Skinner that lasted 142:42 and stretched back to the last second of Game 3 of the Western Conference Second Round.
“It felt good to beat a guy up the ice with some speed, yeah. It always feels good to score. It feels even better to win,” Seguin said. “I think I was thinking about that game last year, Game 1 in here where it was almost like a similar game. Maybe we didn’t deserve to win but tonight maybe we didn’t either and found a way. Those are big games at this time of year. Just try to find a way to get a win. It’s a great hockey team over there in Edmonton, so we’ll take it and run.”
Nugent-Hopkins gave Edmonton a 2-1 lead at 6:08 in the second period on a power-play shot from the inside edge of the left face-off circle that beat Oettinger blocker side.
Evan Bouchard extended the lead to 3-1 at 7:48 on a shot from the top of the left face-off circle.
Seguin scored his second of the game at 16:02 in the third period to give Dallas a 5-3 lead when he deflected in a Sam Steel shot from the side of the netfront.
EDM@DAL, Gm1: Seguin buries Steels slick backhand in tight for his second of the game
Esa Lindell scored into the empty net at 16:45 for the 6-3 final with Skinner pulled for the extra attacker.
“The wins are the best feeling this time of year, but they’re short-lived. And the losses are short-lived. It’s a great comeback win for us,” Duchene said. “The nice thing is when you win a game in the playoffs without your A-game, you want to take it and run with it. We want to be better next game. That’s a dangerous hockey team over there, and you saw it at times. We were probably a little too passive on it at times, but it’s hard not to be when you have gifted players like that coming at you full speed. [McDavid and Draisaitl] both played incredible tonight, and like I said, at the end of the day, you take that one, you run, and you try to get greedy and take two at home.”
NOTES: Dallas is the first team in Stanley Cup Playoffs history to earn multiple wins in regulation after being down by two-plus goals in the third period in a playoff year. … Dallas’ five goals in the third period are the most scored by any team in a single period through this season’s playoffs. … Heiskanen tied Sergei Zubov with his 13th multipoint game in the postseason for the most by a defenseman in franchise history. … Oettinger tied Jon Casey and Frank Brimsek for the fourth-most playoff wins among American goaltenders in NHL history (32 wins each). … Draisaitl has the third-most postseason games with three or more points (11) in League history. … Bouchard is the second defenseman in Edmonton franchise history to record five or more goals in a postseason two or more times (Paul Coffey, 3).
FLA vs. CAR | EDM vs. DAL
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STL vs. WPG | COL vs. DAL | MIN vs. VGK | EDM vs. LAK
