Stars Defeat Oilers, 4-3, in Yet Another Typical Crazy Ending at Edmonton

In any other setting, Sam Gagner's goal that went off Mike Modano's right skate as the Stars forward did a fly by with 1:02 left in the third period to tie the game at 3-3 would have sent the game into OT.

But this is the same setting where Patrick Stefan inexplicably let the cheese fall off the cracker on a breakaway towards an empty net. A snafu that led to an Ales Hemsky game tying goal with seconds left to send the game into OT.

This is also the setting where an apparent game tying goal by the Oilers was waived off by a non-existent hand pass called by Mick McGeough.

And tonight, James Neal added his name to this quirky legacy between the Oilers and Stars at Rexall Place after Jason Strudwick, while falling down backwards, literally set Neal up for the game winning goal.

Our very own Art Middleton was on hand to witness all those events.

Which means if I get another opportunity to ask one of my co-hosts, 'what was it like to watch all those opposing fans stream out of the building with their heads hung low' on this week's podcast, I won't feel like such a dumbass later.

If DBD Live ever had an e-brake segment, I surely would have won this week.

Getting back to the game real quick, it was fitting that Edmonton was able to get the game tying goal. It was a deserved result, even if the puck did go in off Modano's skate. They were the hungrier team in the final frame and were finally rewarded.

And then they fell back into the same bad turnover habits that caused them to fall into a two separate two goal holes in the game and it burned them in the end.

For the Stars, it certainly wasn't pretty. They coughed up a goal at the end of the second period to Gagner to allow the Oilers to creep back to within one and almost allowed Edmonton to tie it with three seconds left in the frame.

But Marty Turco, as he was called upon to do so often tonight, bailed out the Stars shoddy defense with some nice legpad manipulation to rob Dustin Penner on a backhander.

After the week he had against Columbus, Philly, and Montreal, it was nice to see him rewarded for his efforts. And it was also nice to see Trevor Daley look more assertive tonight and get rewarded early on with his second goal of this roadtrip. He ended last night's game against Vancouver with an inconsequential goal on the final shot of the game and scored on his opening shot by stepping into one from the ladies tees on Devan Dubnyk.

And so, the 10 game winless streak on the road is history. It's on to just east of the Rockies on Sunday night where the Stars will take on the Colorado Avalanche.

And it'll also be our comment fundraising night for the victims of the Haitian Earthquakes. So please do join us.

Highlights of the game are after the jump