The roar that erupted from the American Airlines Center on Wednesday, May 21st, wasn’t just for the puck drop of Game 1 in the Western Conference Final; it was for a team reborn. Trailing the high-flying Edmonton Oilers 3-1 in the second period, the Dallas Stars engineered a stunning comeback. Propelled by a resurgent Tyler Seguin’s two goals and Jake Oettinger’s steadfast 26 saves, they exploded in the final frame, pouring in five unanswered goals to seal a dominant 6-3 victory. That electric win set an unforgettable tone for this pivotal Round 3 series. With momentum firmly on their side, the Stars are now gearing up to host the Oilers again on Friday before heading to Rogers Place for Game 3, daring Edmonton to answer their incredible display of resilience and offensive firepower.
Dallas Stars Lineup:
Granlund – Hintz – Rantanen
Robertson – Duchene – Johnston
Marchment – Steel – Seguin
Benn – Back – Dadonov
Lindell – Ceci
Harley – Heiskanen
Bischel – Lyubushkin
Oettinger
DeSmith
Edmonton Oilers Lineup:
Nugent-Hopkins – McDavid – Hyman
Podkolzin – Draisaitl – Kapanen
Kane – Henrique – Brown
Frederic – Janmark – Perry
Kulak – Bouchard
Nurse – Stecher
Walman – Klingberg
Skinner
Rodrigue
With 9:41 on the clock in the first frame, Leon Draisaitl opened the scoring for his fifth goal of the playoffs to give Edmonton a 1-0 lead after some passing back and forth with Connor McDavid, who was near the right circle when he handed it off to Darnell Nurse. The puck returned to Draisaitl when Nurse lost control with Jason Robertson behind him, attempting to intercept the pass. Draisaitl shot from the bottom right of the face-off circle that beat Jake Oettinger far-side corner. Tyler Seguin tied it up 1-1 at 4:38 on a breakaway from the slot, beating Stuart Skinner glove-side. His goal ended a shutout streak by Skinner that had lasted 142:42, stretching back to the last second of Game 3 of the Western Conference Second Round.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins broke the tie, putting the Oilers back in front 2-1 at 13:52 of the second period with a power-play goal. He took a pass from McDavid, who drove into the Stars’ zone with the puck before sending it over to Draisaitl along the right wall, who passed it back to him as he entered the right circle before getting it to Nugent-Hopkins for a shot from the inside edge of the left face-off circle, beating Oettinger blocker side. Soon after the second Edmonton tally, Evan Bouchard struck to extend the lead to 3-1 for his fifth goal of the playoffs off a pass from Nugent-Hopkins, shooting from the top of the left face-off circle.
Miro Heiskanen cut the Oilers’ lead to 3-2 just 32 seconds into the third period, on the power play, when he shot from the point, went through a screened Skinner to begin the Stars’ comeback. Mikael Granlund knotted it up to 3-3 after receiving a pass from Heiskanen, finding the back of the net from the top of the left face-off circle at 16:11. In a netfront scramble, Matt Duchene made it three straight power play goals for Dallas when his shot banked in off Nugent-Hopkins for the Stars’ first lead of the night 4-3 at 14:02. Seguin struck again, picking up his second goal of the night when Sam Steel’s shot from the side of the netfront was deflected in for the 5-3 lead with 3:58 left on the clock in the final frame. For his first goal of the playoffs, Esa Lindell struck the empty Edmonton net at 3:15 for the 6-3 final.
Miro Heiskanen on heading into the third down 3-1, how important it is to get the power play going, and what a third period comeback like this one does for the overall confidence of the team: “Work harder, you know, win more puck battles and try to get to first on the power play there quickly, and keep working after that. I think we worked hard on the third one, and that’s how we need to keep playing. …It’s huge. In the playoffs, when you get it going, it helps a lot, and it’s important… got some goals there, and hopefully we can keep doing that,” – “It’s great. It’s always great to come back. It’s a good team against us, and to do that against them gives us confidence. We know how we need to play right now. We just have to work harder. I think the first two periods weren’t good enough, a really good third, and we just need to keep doing that.”
Notes:
– Tyler Seguin had a three-point night, picking up two goals and an assist. Both Miro Heiskanen and Mikael Granlund had a goal and an assist. …Heiskanen’s 13th multipoint postseason game puts him alongside Sergei Zubov for the most by a defenseman in franchise history.
– With 32 wins, Jake Oettinger has tied Jon Casey and Frank Brimsek for the fourth-highest number of playoff victories among American goaltenders in NHL history.
– No other team in Stanley Cup Playoffs history has managed to secure multiple regulation victories in one playoff year after being down by two or more goals in the third period, a feat Dallas has now accomplished.
– Through this season’s playoffs, Dallas’ five-goal third period is the most goals scored by any team in a single period.
– Leon Draisaitl recorded a goal and a pair of assists, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had a goal and an assist, and Connor McDavid collected two assists. …In League history, Draisaitl holds the third position for the most postseason games with three or more points, having achieved this 11 times.
– Evan Bouchard is only the second defenseman in Edmonton franchise history, after Paul Coffey (who did it 3 times), to achieve five or more goals in a postseason on two or more occasions.
– Stuart Skinner made a total of 22 saves for Edmonton.
ITR 39: Conference Finals – Inside The Rink
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