stars win it in a shootout
Oilers squander another lead
stars 3, Oilers 2 (sO)
The Edmonton Oilers thanked their long-suffering supporters during Thursday’s Fan Appreciation Night with barbecues and TVs and trips, and as usual, offered up some breathtaking sleight-of-hand work from their resident magicians, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
McDavid scored a fantastic goal in the second period and set up Draisaitl for his 47th of the season, only two back of Alex Ovechkin in the race for the Maurice Richard trophy.
The Stars, fairly safe as the first wild-card team in the West and 9-4-1 in their preceding 14 games, look home and cooled while the Oilers have their noses pressed up against the playoff glass, begging to be let in but running out of time as they chase the Colorado Avalanche for the second wild-card spot.
Alex Radulov and Miro Heiskanen scored for the Stars in regulation time after McDavid and Draisaitl beat Dallas goalie Anton Khudobin in the first 21 minutes of the contest.
Jamie Benn scored on the fifth shot of the shootout, tucking it through Mikko Koskinen’s legs, to give the Stars a 3-2 win and push their point total to 88. The Oilers have 77 points with five games left, six back of the Avalanche, who were idle on Thursday.
While Edmonton defenceman Darnell Nurse said there was “high urgency for both sides” coming into the game, it was much higher for the Oilers, who are running out of time. They needed the two points but had to settle for the loser one.
Century Club
Draisaitl’s 47th snipe, off a McDavid feed, was his 100th point, only the second time since 2009-10 that two guys from the same NHL team did that. Alex Ovechkin (105) and Nicklas Backstrom (101) had 100-plus for Washington that season. It has only happened five times since 2000. It has happened 66 times in NHL history that two guys from the same club have done it. Last time two Oilers did it was 1988-89 when Jari Kurri had 102 and Jimmy Carson (remember him?) had 100.
HigHligHt reel, baby
McDavid’s 40th, off a Draisaitl pass, was so good you could watch it 40 times and never get bored. He wheeled around Esa Lindell, the Stars’ best defensive D, tucked the puck into his skates, then casually lifted it past Khudobin’s stick far side. “Absolutely scary. You just shake your head at the stuff McDavid can do,” said a longtime pro scout watching from the press box. “And at such high speeds.” That’s two straight 40-goal seasons, the first Oiler to do that since Kurri in ’87-88 and ’88-89. the second time the year Wayne Gretzky had left for the L.A. Kings. Draisaitl (47) and McDavid are the first Oilers duo with 40 since Kurri and Carson in 30 years ago when they had their 100-point years.
Double tHe trouble
Kris Russell and fellow defenceman Matt Benning were both nailed with shots on the arm in the second period and went to the dressing room, but both returned for the third. Russell, all-world at throwing his body in front of all manner of shots, applauded the block by Benning on Finnish rookie C Roope Hintz on a 3-on-1 Dallas play but he couldn’t come back after five second-period shifts. Benning was already playing with a cage-mask to protect his fat lip and broken tooth from a puck in the face against L.A. Tuesday. Russell, hit on the back of the arm by John Klingberg shortly after Benning exited, left the Oilers with four D for the last eight minutes of the second.
WHo’s your DaDDy?
Dallas winger Radulov has feasted on the Oilers in his NHL career. His beautiful power-play goal (high glove, short-side) on Koskinen in the second was his 10th goal in 16 career games and his 18th point. Radulov has 26 goals in only 66 games and a team-leading plus 21 rating.
tHis ’n’ tHat
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Tyler Seguin scored for their teams during the shootout in the first three shots before Benn ended it ... Oscar Klefbom also took a shot in the face in the third when he tipped a Hintz shot but returned ... Benning cleared the puck along the glass and into the bench in the third and hit assistant coach Trent Yawney on the leg ... Jujhar Khaira (foot) sat out his fifth straight game but could play Saturday against the Ducks ... Stars called up goalie Landon Bow from Texas Stars to sit on the bench with Ben Bishop, a possible Vezina finalist with a 2.03 average and .933 save percentage, tweaking a groin against Calgary Wednesday … Joe Gambardella accidentally knocked referee Ian Walsh to his knees to the right of Khudobin in the first period … Dallas scratched Jason Spezza, on the last year of a four-year, $30-million contract, for the fourth time in the last six games. He’ll be 36 when he hits free agency July 1.