How Oilers took Game 1 over Stars in double overtime

Source: The New York Times
Author: Daniel Nugent-Bowman

DALLAS -- The Edmonton Oilers know the Dallas Stars' pain all too well only they couldn't have been more pleased to add to it.

The Oilers came into the 2024 playoffs losing seven straight Game 1s, a skid they finally snapped by beating the Los Angeles Kings in Round 1.

Thanks to an Edmonton win on Thursday, courtesy of Connor McDavid's goal at 19:28 of the second overtime, the Stars have now matched the Oilers' level of futility. The Stars are now at seven consecutive opening losses. Their last win to start a series was over Tampa Bay in the 2020 Stanley Cup Final in Edmonton.

This one was a low-event game, the type that should have been more to the Stars' liking. However, it was the Oilers who broke the ice in the Western Conference final thanks to some stellar defensive efforts.

The Oilers have been lights out on the penalty kill in the playoffs, allowing just three goals on 35 times short-handed. Included in that impressive run was denying all 12 power plays the Kings had in the opening round.

They were up to the task again on Thursday, killing off all five Stars power plays.

The Stars were afforded the first three man advantages of the game and the Oilers gave them next to nothing.

The Oilers were aggressive and barely let the Stars get set up in the offensive zone. The Stars had just four shots on net on those power plays.

Things got much more hectic in overtime when McDavid took a double minor for high-sticking Matt Duchene and the Stars had four shots on net, plus Jason Robertson hit a post. Still, the Oilers didn't allow a goal.

"Just having good sticks all over the ice, pressuring, getting pressure on their entries, getting loose pucks and then clearing the puck and winning those stick battles," said former Star and Oilers regular PKer Mattias Janmark for the reason behind their success. "That's the main thing."

Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said he appreciates the Oilers' commitment to blocking shots -- especially by the defencemen -- and the four skaters "playing off their instincts."

"Any time there's a loose puck, they're on the attack mode trying to go get that puck," he said. "But the biggest thing is playing quick. There's no hesitation and everyone's reading off each other."

The cherry on top was the Oilers scoring right after killing off the second Dallas power play at the beginning of the second period. It was Leon Draisaitl, bumped up with McDavid and Zach Hyman for an offensive-zone faceoff, who scored his ninth goal of the postseason.

Stuart Skinner has gotten a ton of criticism in these playoffs. Justifiably so, mind you. He did lose the net for seven periods against the Vancouver Canucks.

Well, he deserves his roses for the way he played on Thursday.

Skinner was rock solid in the Oilers net making 31 saves. The only shots that beat him came off the stick of Stars veteran Tyler Seguin. Neither of which he had much of a chance on.

The first one occurred right after a brutal turnover by defenceman Brett Kulak that resulted in a tap-in. The second one happened when Robertson turned and shot the puck toward the net and Evgenii Dadonov tipped it right to Seguin, who had an open net.

This game could have been much different without a couple key stops from Skinner.

The first came two minutes into the contest when he turned aside a Dadonov chance in close to prevent an early goal by the home team.

The second came when he shouldered away a slot try from Esa Lindell at 4:06 of the second period. That save proved monumental. The Oilers immediately took the puck down the ice, and Hyman willed his way to his playoff-leading 12th goal just 11 seconds later.

The Stars have gotten used to playing without Roope Hintz. The No. 1 center missed the last three games of the Colorado series of which Dallas won twice.

However, this absence for a fourth straight game seemed particularly noticeable.

The Stars' major advantage in this series is their depth. Sans Hintz, the lineup looked like it was out of whack. Wyatt Johnston, Matt Duchene and Jamie Benn could handle the top three centre duties.

Stars coach Pete DeBoer said he's hopeful Hintz can return to the lineup in time for Saturday's Game 2. That would surely help Dallas.