After orchestrating a stunning third-period comeback to snatch Game 1 from the Edmonton Oilers, the Dallas Stars found themselves on the wrong end of a dramatic swing in momentum. On Friday, back on their home ice where they’d won seven straight playoff games, the Stars’ offense went cold, silenced completely by Stuart Skinner and the Oilers. Skinner, with a stellar 25-save performance, secured his third shutout of the playoffs in a dominant 3-0 victory for Edmonton, leveling the series as it now shifts to Alberta for Game 3 on Sunday.
Dallas Stars Lineup:
Granlund – Hintz – Rantanen
Marchment – Duchene – Seguin
Benn – Johnston – Dadonov
Robertson – Steel – Blackwell
Lindell – Heiskanen
Harley – Ceci
Bichsel – Petrovic
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
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored early in the first period at 14:09, picking up his fifth goal of the playoffs and his second in the past five games. He redirected a shot from Evan Bouchard, who fired from below the right circle after taking a pass from Connor McDavid, and Nugent-Hopkins redirected it from the crease to the right of Jake Oettinger for a power-play goal.
Making it 2-0 late in the middle frame for Edmonton, Brett Kulak found the back of the net for his first of the playoffs after his initial shot was blocked by Mikko Rantanen after taking a pass from McDavid, who got the puck from Bouchard, who passed it to him from the Oilers’ zone as McDavid was heading into the Stars’ zone to pass it off to Kulak. He then collected his own rebound, scoring on a shot from the high slot at 4:37. Connor Brown extended the lead to 3-0 soon after Kulak’s goal with 3:34 on the clock when he deflected a shot from Nugent-Hopkins from the left face-off circle after Evander Kane was denied, and Jake Walman got ahold of the puck, passing it to Nugent-Hopkins.
Wyatt Johnston on how he and the team looks at this game/the Oilers’ energy, scoring chances and frustration, and being down 1-0 rather than opening the scoring/how they could fix that: “It’s nothing new. We’ve played a lot of playoff hockey over the last three years. We just got to be able to match that in those situations. Obviously, not the game we wanted, but we have a long series, and the most important one is the next one,” – “It’s definitely more concerning if you’re not getting chances. It’s good that you can generate some looks, and I think we could still do a better job with that. I think at the end of the day, just not our best game, and we’ll look to improve in many different aspects next game. …I think the mindset just coming out, can maybe be a little bit better. I think we would like to score first in every game, and that’s ultimately the goal. We don’t want to be going down one nothing… that’s the focus for next game. The focus for every game is to get that first goal and play from there. We can do a better job with that.”
Game Notes:
– During the third period, Roope Hintz sustained a skate-top slash from Darnell Nurse, forcing him to leave the game. Hintz was unable to put any weight on his left leg as he skated off. After a review, officials issued Nurse a minor penalty for slashing, though a major penalty had been considered.
– Jake Oettinger made a total of 22 saves for Dallas.
– Mikael Granlund, Miro Heiskanen, Esa Lindell, Hintz, and Mikko Rantanen, all five the Stars’ Finnish players, started Game 2. This marks the first game in a regular-season or playoff game since 1997-98, when the NHL started tracking starters, in which all five skaters starting were from Finland.
– Ryan Nugent-Hopkins recorded a goal and an assist, and Evan Bouchard collected a pair of assists. …Bouchard, with 15 points; five goals, 10 assists, leads the League in scoring in the postseason by a defenseman.
– Stuart Skinner tied Edmonton’s franchise record for most shutouts in a single postseason (Curtis Joseph, 1998).
ITR 39: Conference Finals – Inside The Rink
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