The Dallas Stars evened the NHL’s Western Conference Final Saturday night with a 3-1 home-ice win over the Edmonton Oilers.
“I thought the story tonight was the play of the two goaltenders,” Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said after the game.
“You know we only got one goal, but chances we had and the chances they had — it could have been a very high scoring game. I think we could have come out of here with two games (wins), but obviously it’s just one.”
The Stars scored on their first shot on goal when Jamie Benn fired a low shot past Stuart Skinner on a two-on-one. The Oilers came back 44 seconds later with Connor Brown tucking a rebound between the legs of Jake Oettinger for his first of the playoffs. The Oilers outshot the Stars 16-4 in the first and forced Oettinger to make a couple of sensational saves.
Dallas applied a lot of pressure early in the second. Wyatt Johnston clanged a backhand off the crossbar. Skinner made a tricky save off a close-range chance by Evgenii Dadonov. The Oilers killed off a Stars power play, giving them 20 straight successful penalty kills.
Mason Marchment deftly deflected Ryan Suter’s point shot to put the Stars ahead 2-1 with 16:19 left in the third. Esa Lindell added an empty netter.
“I think they might have out-changed us,” Brown said after the loss. “They were getting fresh guys on and rolling, even though I thought we had some good looks in the second. I don’t think we were getting dominated at any point. They’re a good team, they’re going to come with pushes this series. I thought Stu was great. I thought that game could have went either way.”
The Oilers were held to five shots on goal in the third. Oettinger earned the win with 28 saves. Skinner stopped 22 of 24 shots.
Leon Draisaitl was held without a point for the first time in the playoffs.
When asked about returning home with a split in Dallas, Oilers captain Connor McDavid said: “Yeah, I guess that’s a positive. Never like to lose. We had a big opportunity here tonight and failed to capitalize.”
Game three is Monday in Edmonton. (630 CHED, Face-off Show at 4:30 p.m., game at 6:30 p.m.).
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