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It wasn’t so much penalty killing as penalty dying.
In a game the Edmonton Oilers were in total control of, up 3-1 heading into the third period and firing on all cylinders, their biggest weakness in these playoffs reared its ugly head once again.
It absolutely collapsed when they needed it most, bringing the team down with it.
In a stunning turn of events Wednesday in Dallas, the Stars scored three power-play goals on three separate penalties in the first six minutes of the final frame to turn what looked like a humbling Game 1 loss into a brutal 6-3 victory.
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“We have to kill better, it’s as simple as that,” said defenceman Darnell Nurse, still in shock from what just happened. “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 PK we have to make it and we didn’t do that enough tonight.”
It was hard to watch. An Oilers team that prides itself on post-season composure melted into a blue and orange puddle, handing the Stars a 1-0 lead in the Western Conference Final.
“We give up three goals in a row on the kill, that just kills the momentum,” sighed forward Leon Draisaitl. “Then you’re chasing the game, the game changes from there, so we have to be an awful lot more mature than that.”
At least it was fast. Miro Heiskanen scored on the power play 32 seconds into the third period to make it 3-2, Mikael Granlund tied it 3-3 on another power play three minutes later and Matt Duchene made it 4-3 two minutes after that on the hat trick of man-advantage markers.
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“Obviously we let down out guard for five or six minutes and got into some penalty trouble,” said goaltender Stuart Skinner. “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.
“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.”
Tyler Seguin made it 5-3 at even strength and an empty-netter sealed the heartbreak.
It shouldn’t have ended this way, not after the way it started.
Edmonton showed right from the opening puck drop that their six-day layoff hadn’t slowed their momentum one bit.
Connor McDavid was flying. Draisaitl was flying. The penalty kill had two great scoring chances in killing the first Stars power play. Skinner made a nice glove save. The power play scored 25 seconds into its first opportunity. Zach Hyman had 10 hits in the first two periods.
Edmonton’s star players were in big-game mode and Dallas struggled to keep up. In what was supposed to be a battle between two power teams in the West, the Stars spent most of the night on their heels.
Draisaitl scored.
Ryan Nugent Hopkins scored.
Evan Bouchard scored.
With Edmonton up 3-1 at the second intermission, the three of them had already combined for seven points.
And it could have been worse, with Hyman hitting the crossbar and Nurse ringing one off the post.
“Our five-on-five game is really good, we just have to use it more,” said Nurse. “In the last couple of series when we stayed out of the box and kept the game at five-on-five we played to the strength of our team.
“We took a couple more (penalties) than we have in the last few games, but that being said, when the PK gets out there we have to step up and make plays.”
The only offence Dallas managed in the first 40 minutes was when Draisaitl turned the puck over just inside the Dallas blue line to send Seguin in on a breakaway. Beyond that, the Oilers were in charge.
Playoff monster Mikko Rantanen, the guy with 19 points who, next to goaltender Jake Oettinger, was supposed to be Edmonton’s biggest problem in this series? You didn’t really notice him.
And Oettinger? It took less than two periods for the Oilers to make another star opposition goaltender look pretty average.
The evening seemed well in hand.
It wasn’t.
Special teams was a concern heading into the series. The Stars are third among all playoff teams on the power play at 30.8 per cent while the Oilers are a distant 14th at 66.7 (and 57.1 on the road) on the penalty kill.
“It’s been a little bit up and down,” said Skinner. “It was bad at the start of the first round and got better. It was great all series against Vegas and a struggle for one game here. But it’s one game, we can get back on the horse for sure.”
At even strength, the Oilers were the much better team, so they’ll be taking solace in that.
“After the first two periods we felt it was a good start,” said head coach Kris Knoblauch. “And then it just turned in the third period. We’re going to have to put this one behind us and move on. We’ve had some heart-breaking losses in the playoffs and we’ve been able to rebound nicely.”
E-mail: rtychkowski@postmedia.com
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