The Dallas Stars take on the Edmonton Oilers and since it’s an afternoon game we’re either going to get a high-flying 7-6 game or a slow-as-molasses 2-1 slugfest. We’ll see which one we get today
Prior to the start of the game, the Dallas Stars honored Jim Lites and Brenden Morrow with the ceremonial dropping of the puck. Both will be inducted into the Dallas Stars Hall of Fame tomorrow and were celebrated during the game today.
Congrats to both, and Brenden Morrow will always be one of my favorite hockey players to put on the Stars jersey. If you have any favorite Brenden Morrow memories, put them in the comments!
First Period
The Stars’ top line took the opening draw for today’s game, and Logan Stankoven, who was just moved back to this line, took the opening draw against Connor McDavid.
Jason Robertson had a good shift early in the game where he laid a big reverse hit on Mattias Ekholm and then followed that up with some nice work in the offensive zone to generate a chance.
Miro Heiskanen had an awkward moment at 11 minutes in when he tripped on Oettinger’s pad and took out Jake just as the Oilers took a shot. Miro has looked slightly off so far this year – maybe it’s just me, but his speed and agility seem to be reduced compared to the poised skater I’m used to seeing.
Shots are currently 5-1 Oilers ten minutes in with play so far being more even than the shots would indicate. The Stars’ first line has had two prime scoring chances that did not end up with a shot on goal.
Soon after the midway point of the period, the play tilted strongly to the Oilers and it culminated with an open Connor McDavid curling around Otter near the hash marks and sending a dangerous shot that Oettinger confidently blockered aside.
The Stars got another good chance from their first line when they got a cycle going deep in the O-zone and Logan Stankoven sent a pass over to Jason Robertson that he one-timed on net and nearly caught the Oiler’s goalie Stuart Skinner off-guard. That was only the Stars’ second shot on goal and we have around five minutes left in the opening period.
Jamie Benn took a hooking penalty on Connor McDavid who was charging right by him with a little over a minute left in the period. With 30 seconds left, Leon Draisatl had a dangerous near-goal line shot that almost got past Otter, but luckily the puck got trapped beneath his goalie pads and stayed out.
The period ended with the score tied 0-0 and the Oilers with 46 seconds left on the Power Play. Rough period from the offense, and only the Stars’ first line was showing any offensive potential. At least we had some heavy hitting from both sides to tide us over – a fitting start on the eve of Brenden Morrow’s Dallas Stars Hall of Fame induction.
Score: Oilers 0 – Stars 0
Shots on goal: Oilers 11 – Stars 2!
Second Period
With Jamie Benn still in the box, the Oilers came out firing to start the period and looked destined to score, but the Stars escaped unscathed and are now 19/20 on the kill.
Keeping with the physical theme of the game so far, Brendan Smith had a heavy hit on the Oilers Derek Ryan and leveled him next to the boards. Corey Perry came up to Smith and it seemed like we were going to get a fight, but the play kept on going and Smith and Perry separated.
With less than 10 minutes left in the second period, Miro sent a one-timer from the point that Skinner easily secured – this otherwise unnotable shot became only the 5th Dallas shot halfway through the game and also the first shot on goal by a Stars defenseman so far.
I’ve given the Stars forwards a fair amount of criticism regarding the power play, but perhaps the better question is where has the scoring from the backend been? There hasn’t been a goal scored by the defense yet this year, Harley’s mustered only 2 points, and Heiskanen is still pointless. My pitchfork is safely hung on my barndoor regarding my sweet baby Miro and Thomas, but I think it’s fair to equally critique the offense that should be coming from the defense.
-Rant over –
While in the O-zone, Roope Hintz picked up a tripping penalty when he “tripped” up the Oilers Emberson behind the net (looks more like Emberson was off-balance and a single tap of the stick was all it took to fell him). Context is key though, and since Hintz almost turned that into a goal the whistle blew and a penalty was called.
Despite the Oilers’ PP looking dangerous and showcasing speed and movement on their power play, they were unable to punch through the Stars’ PK and somehow are just as unsuccessful on the power play as the Stars as they are a paltry 1/15 on the season. You’re telling me two of the best players in the world on the same power-play unit can’t score either? Huh, maybe we don’t have it that bad after all.
The Stars would get their chance to redeem themselves on the power play when Stuart Skinner took a penalty on Jason Robertson with a minute left in the period by tripping him behind the net. Immediately after a Roope Hintz faceoff win on the subsequent power play, Matt Duchene picked up the puck and sent a blistering shot glove high and beat Stuart Skinner to finally give the Stars a power play goal.
Did anyone else yell because they were surprised by the power play goal, or was it just me? Maybe it was a combination of that and the fact the power play unit got blended together and you had Duchene out there with Hintz, Marchment, Johnston, and Heiskanen. Props to Spott for trying something different with the PP units.
The period would end in a hectic way with buzz in the arena and the Oilers pushing for a response goal. Despite getting outshot and out-chanced, the Stars fought back with good pressure midway through the second period and look poised to keep the momentum going into the third.
Score: Oilers 0 – Stars 1
Shots on goal: Oilers 21 – Stars 11
Third Period
One thing the Stars did to change the momentum of the game in the second period was shifting up the lines and switching Dadonov and Bourque between the second and third lines and it seemed to be working quite well even into the third period.
It’s taken more than half the game for the boys to get warmed up, but the third period has seen them close the gap in shots on goal and generate quality scoring chances 5v5.
With less than 8 minutes left in the game and the puck on Connor McDavid’s stick, Colin Blackwell collected a bad pass by McDavid and sent the puck down the ice to a charging Mason Marchment who drew in the Oilers’ D before showing tremendous patience and sending a perfect pass to Matt Duchene who buried the shot and put the Stars up 2-0.
Less than two minutes later, the Stars’ first line which has generated chance after chance in the game finally got rewarded after Jason Robertson reversed the puck to Stankoven who immediately sent a backhand pass to Roope Hintz who was alone in front of the net. Hintz did what McDavid did not, and he quickly deposited it blocker side on Skinner to make it 3-0 and pick up his 3rd goal of the season.
While I liked Johnston up on the first line, I think Stankoven compliments Robo and Hintz more and he fills in the role of playmaker on that line.
With the score 3-0, a little over 2 minutes left in the game, and the Oilers goalie pulled, Leon Draisaitl would finally find a way to get a puck past Jake Oettinger when he one-timed a pass from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins from a tight angle. Spoiling Otter’s shutout chance and getting the Oilers back in the game with just enough time to potentially ruin the afternoon.
Thankfully, Jason Robertson picked an empty net goal assisted by Stankoven and Hintz to ice the game and put the Stars up 4-1. Logan “Calder” Stankoven now has 7 points in 6 games to put him front and center in the early stretch of the Calder race.
Jake Oettinger would stand strong in the final two minutes and the Stars won 4-1. Despite the offense finally breaking past that 2-goal ceiling they’ve been stuck in the past couple of games, it was Jake Oettinger who stole the game and stepped up against the team and goalie who outplayed them in the playoffs.
Final score: Oilers 1 – Stars 4
Final Shots on Goal: Oilers 31 – Stars 24
Three Stars of the Game: ⭐️ Jake Oettinger ⭐️⭐️ Matt Duchene ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Roope Hintz
Quick Stats
- Face-off % was 62.9% for the Oilers and just 37.1% for the Stars
- The Stars went 2/2 on the PK and 1/1 on the PP
- Dallas had 23 hits and 22 blocked shots compared to 10 hits and 12 blocks for the Oilers
GameScore (courtesy of HockeyStatCards)
Deserve To Win-O’meter (courtesy of MoneyPuck)
While it’s kind of lazy to just shadow drop some fancy stats and vanish I think it provides a digestible way to immediately process Stars players individually and the general vibes of the game as a whole. If y’all would prefer to see some other end-game stats please let me know!
The Stars finally get a day off before they get back on the road and travel to Buffalo, NY to play the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday at 6 PM central on Victory+.