Edmonton Oilers drop Game 1 of the Western Conference Final in Dallas

The Dallas Stars beat the Edmonton Oilers in Game 1 of the Western Conference Final 6–3. Regardless of the score, the Oilers played well tonight. Signifying that this is going to be a battle of a series.

Were the Oilers rested or rusty?

The Oilers finished their second round series in five games, which gave them a longer break than the Stars got. In the Stanley Cup Playoffs teams get into a routine of playing every other night. However, if a series ends quickly, the winning team is rewarded with a longer break.

Every year, fans debate on whether the breaks give teams rest or rust. Tonight, the Oilers quickly proved the rest was a good thing. They came out flying, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl looked like they were going to cause problems for Dallas early.

Draisaitl scored the opening goal to give the Oilers the lead with 9:41 left in the first period. A big thing that the Oilers have had this year and haven’t in past years in the playoffs is depth scoring. In the first two rounds the Oilers didn’t rely on their top players as much as usual. That wasn’t the case tonight.

The Oilers had 12 shots in the first period and had some major scoring chances. McDavid was making NHL defencemen look like beer league players, but only got one goal in the first. Even though the Oilers had their chances, so did the Stars. They also capitalized, Tyler Seguin scored on a breakaway to tie the game at one.

Oilers were dictating the pace

After Game 1, the Oilers power play percentage is at 25%, including a power play goal from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to give the Oilers a 2–1 lead early in the second period. Throughout the second period of this game, the majority of the play was spent in the Stars zone. It was the Oilers big boys who were dominating for most of the game.

Draisaitl finished with three points, McDavid finished with two, Nugent-Hopkins, and Evan Bouchard each had a goal. The Oilers took a 3–1 lead into the third period, and it looked like they weren’t going to slow down.

A complete 180 by the third

In the final minute of the second period Brett Kulak took a hooking penalty. The Oilers killed off the remainder of the period. However just 32 seconds into the third period, Stars defenceman, Miro Heiskanen scored his first of the playoffs to make it a one goal game.

Heiskanen has four points in four games this playoffs since returning from injury in Game 4 against the Winnipeg Jets. He has been a massive addition to the Stars defence core since his return. Including tonight, the Stars power play is at 34.9% and had three power play goals in the third period of Game 1. The tying goal came from Mikael Granlund just 3:16 after the Heiskanen goal to tie the game.

Before the game, on the ESPN broadcast Mark Messier called out Stars players Matt Duchene, Jason Roberston, and Wyatt Johnston. Saying, “if I was coach of the Oilers and I saw those three out there, I’d get McDavid and Draisaitl out there as soon as possible.”

It’s ironic Duchene ended up scoring the eventual game-winning goal, again on the power play. The Stars capitalized three times on the power play and it went from 3–1 Oilers to 4–3 Stars within 5:38 of game time.

The Stars would go on to add insurance. Seguin scored again and Esa Lindell added the dagger for the Stars 6–3 win. This will be a long series and it will be back and forth for as long as it goes. However, the Oilers have their work cut out for them as they now have to win four of the next six games.