Fresh off a loss against the reigning Stanley Cup champions, the Stars came home to face their Western Conference finals foe.
And Edmonton did not take long to remind them how tough those two weeks in May were.
The Oilers kicked off scoring four minutes into the first period when forward Vasily Podkolzin knocked the puck past goalie Casey DeSmith, who also started against Florida.
After defenseman Esa Lindell got called for cross checking, forward Leon Draisaitl wasted no time and scored on the power play after a Stars giveaway. Down 2-0, Dallas struggled, despite the many shots attempted, but managed to keep the Oilers from scoring for the rest of the period.
Dallas came out swinging in the second when Mikko Rantanen, who was being celebrated with a commemorative bobblehead for the night, shot a puck that bounced off the crossbar and injected a little energy into the crowd.
The Stars have struggled to snag a lead early in games, but head coach Glen Gulutzan is confident that once his team starts playing more freely, games will start off better.
“Within all the structure, there’s got to be hockey players, and I’m trying now as a coach to free them up to play half the games random,” Gulutzan said. “And in that random part of the game, we need instinct and hockey guys… I think it’s going to get out of our system very soon, and when it does, I think the sky’s the limit.”
After the Stars killed Lian Bischel’s boarding penalty, they got their own chance at a power play when Leon Draisaitl got sent to the box for cross checking. Rantanen took advantage and knocked in a puck after Jason Robertson and Wyatt Johnston’s attempts, putting the Stars on the board and delighting the crowd, who erupted into loud cheers of “Moose!”
Dallas went down two points again after forward Connor McDavid scored, but Rantanen snapped right back with a goal of his own that brought the Stars back up.
And they did not stop there. Miro Heiskanen slapped in a bounced puck shot by Johnston past Stuart Skinner to bring the game to an even 3-3.
The energy shifted, and suddenly a victory over Guluztan’s former team seemed within reach. But neither team seemed willing to give the other any room to breathe, and the game got sent to overtime. The Stars’ defense was in full swing, and Heiskanen’s suffocation of McDavid helped Dallas send the game to a shootout.
“He’s our best skater,” Rantanen said postgame. Not many guys in the league can skate with him… He’s world class and he showed it.”
After both teams made a shot and missed one, Johnston sealed the deal for Dallas with a shot that soared past Skinner’s glove side, prompting screams from the crowd and giving the Stars the win.
“Entertaining game, not exactly how we would have scripted it,” Johnston said. “But you got to find ways to win.”
The Stars will host the Anaheim Ducks Thursday night at 7 p.m. CT as they look to build off tonight’s win.