Oilers penalty kill fails them in Game 1 loss to the Stars

Two of the defining factors in the Western Conference Final between the Edmonton Oilers and Dallas Stars was going to be depth scoring and special teams.

Those two defining factors were, well, defining factors in Game 1 between these two teams, which saw the Oilers struggle to stay out of the penalty box and a deadly Stars power play continuing to capitalize, as Dallas scored five unanswered goals in a 6-3 win.

“It’s a tough pill to swallow, for sure,” said goaltender Stuart Skinner after the game. “You just can’t be doing that — especially in playoff time, especially against a team like this. They know how to score goals, obviously. They’re a mature team, and I know we have that within us. We’ve done it many, many times, so just let it slip for a little bit, and we’ll get back at it for sure.”

There was little to complain about in the first 40 minutes for the Oilers. Leon Draisaitl opened the scoring halfway through the first period, capping off some beautiful offensive zone time that allowed him to walk in on the right side and wire a shot home. While Draisaitl would cough up a puck five minutes later, allowing Tyler Seguin to get the Stars’ first of the game, Edmonton didn’t waver in their game — yet.

The second period saw the Oilers build off their early success, continuing strong play at five-on-five, as Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, on the power play, and Evan Bouchard scored in less than two minutes, giving them a 3-1 lead.

Undoubtedly the Oilers were feeling good about their game, but a Brett Kulak hooking penalty with 1:02 left in the second would rear its ugly head early in the third. Opening up the final frame on the man advantage, Miro Heiskanen made quick work as a long shot found its way past Skinner. And from there, the wheels fell off. Back-to-back high-sticking penalties from Corey Perry and Evander Kane saw Mikael Granlund and Matt Duchene score, giving the Stars their first lead of the night.

The good news was the Oilers got a power play of their own minutes later. The bad news is — much like the penalty kill — they couldn’t get the job done.

“(We) couldn’t come up with a kill, then (the) game got away from us a little bit through the kill and then our power play, when you have a chance to tie it, wasn’t much better,” said Draisaitl, who had points on all three of the Oilers’ goals.

The game opened up for Dallas, as Seguin would score his second of the game and Esa Lindell capped it off with an empty-net.

On a night where the Oilers special teams couldn’t come up with what they needed and their depth couldn’t get on the board, it was the exact opposite for the Stars. They went three-for-four on the power play and had five different goal scorers — as Seguin doubled his playoff goal total, and each of Heiskanen, Duchene and Lindell tickled twine.

Edmonton can build on their five-on-five game, no doubt, as even when accounting for score effects and venue, they dominated the shot attempt share, scoring chance share and expected goal share. They just need to stay out of the box.

“We were shorthanded for about six minutes in the third period — that makes it a little more difficult to come back,” said Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch about his team being unable to re-gain their momentum. “I just think we took a step back… We’re very disappointed.

“After the first two periods, it felt like a good start and then it just turned in the third period. We’re going to have to put this one behind us and move on. We got some heart breaking losses in the playoffs and have been able to rebound nicely and not worry too much about it.”

And that’s what the Oilers will get a chance to do on Friday night in Game 2 of the series.

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