The Edmonton Oilers found out the hard way they are not the only club capable of big-time comebacks.
The Dallas Stars scored five unanswered third-period goals to claim a 6-3 home-ice victory over the Oilers on Wednesday in the opener of the Western Conference finals.
The Stars are not perceived to have the firepower comparable to their counterparts, but they showed emphatically what they can do — and how they can respond after struggling through the first two periods.
“Things were said, but there’s a calmness with our group. There always has been,” said Dallas forward Tyler Seguin, who scored twice in a three-point outing. “I’ve seen it over the last few years and don’t know where it started, but there’s a lot of belief. We never think we’re fully out of a game.”
The Stars have the upper hand heading into Game 2 of the best-of-seven series Friday in Dallas.
The hosts were down 3-1 going into the final frame, but they scored three power-play goals in a 5:26 span and rocketed to victory.
Miro Heiskanen’s power-play tally 32 seconds into the third period began the comeback. Mikael Granlund tied the clash with another man-advantage marker at 3:49, and Matt Duchene’s first goal of this year’s playoffs finished a wild scramble at 5:58.
Dallas has scored 15 power-play goals, by far the most in this year’s playoffs so far. Edmonton has surrendered the most man-advantage markers against with 14.
“I’m happy for our power play. It took a lot of heat last year,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said, alluding to how his team went 0-for-14 on the man advantage in last year’s conference finals against the Oilers. “It was the difference.”
Edmonton had a late push to draw even, but it was quashed when Seguin notched his second goal at 16:02 of the third. Lindell added an empty-net goal 43 seconds later to round out the scoring.
Heiskanen and Granlund both collected one goal and one assist, and Dallas goaltender Jake Oettinger made 24 saves.
Leon Draisaitl scored once in a three-point performance for the Oilers, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins netted one goal and one assist, and Evan Bouchard scored once. Edmonton’s Connor McDavid collected a pair of assists.
But it was all for naught.
“It’s a tough pill to swallow,” said Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner, who stopped 22 shots. “You just can’t be doing that, especially playoff time and especially against a team like that. … Let it slip through.”
After the clubs traded first-period goals, the Oilers staked a 3-1 lead heading into the third period.
Draisaitl opened the scoring at the 10:19 mark, but Seguin answered five minutes later with a breakaway tally that ended Skinner’s shutout streak at more than seven periods.
Nugent-Hopkins put the Oilers ahead for a second time at 6:08 of the second period with Edmonton’s first road power-play goal of the playoffs, and Bouchard made it a 3-1 game 100 seconds later.
“We’re going to have to put this one behind us and move on,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “We’ve had some heartbreaking losses in these playoffs and we’ve been able to rebound nicely.”
–Field Level Media
