Stars get record 8th win in row over Edmonton
Jake Oettinger stopped 35 shots for his second consecutive shutout, Radek Faksa scored early and assisted on two of the four Dallas goals in a less than 7-minute span of the second period, and the Stars beat Edmonton
5-0 Wednesday night to set a franchise record with their eighth win in a row.
The winning streak, which included their four previous games on the road, has put the Stars atop the Western Conference standings with 105 points. They are only one point behind the New York Rangers for the most in the NHL with six games remaining for both teams.
Wyatt Johnston and Sam Steele each also had a goal and an assist for Dallas, which six times previously had sevengame winning streaks they weren’t able to extend. Tyler Seguin added a powerplay goal and captain Jamie Benn scored his 19th goal for a group that already has seven 20-goal scorers.
Oettinger was coming off 17 saves Saturday at Seattle. He had to work a lot harder for this one, his 10th career shutout and the first time he held consecutive opponents without a goal.
Edmonton goalie Calvin Pickard, playing his 19th game this season, had 27 saves.
The Oilers are second in the Pacific Division with 95 points.
Dallas led for good only 2:08 into the game on Craig Smith’s takeaway from Leon Draisaitl at the blue line, with the puck going to Steel before Faksa poked it through the legs of Pickard for his seventh goal of the season and first in 10 games.
Johnston scored his 30th goal right after exiting the penalty box. The 20-year-old in his second full season joined a rush out of the box, with Faksa getting the secondary assist on the play when Johnston knocked in a pass from Thomas Harley for a 3-0 lead.
The Stars added two goals in 23 seconds late in the period with Johnston assisting on Benn’s goal before Faksa had the helper when Sam Steel scored in the final minute to make it 5-0.
Seguin got the second-period scoring started with 6:44 left with his sniper shot from the right of Pickard that went behind the goal after Miro Heiskanen’s pass across the top of the crease.
Oettinger had several impressive saves, and withstood a 35-second flurry by Edmonton on a power play early in the second period in what was still a 1-0 lead.
Leon Draisaitl had a shot off the right post that ricocheted back in front and was smothered by Oettinger. He then made a glove save on a shot by Connor McDavid before handling Evan Bouchard’s shot into the goalie’s gut. Oettinger already had 20 saves by then.