Jason Robertson and Roope Hintz silenced a roaring Edmonton crowd in the Dallas Stars' victory, leaving the Oilers wondering how to contain them and their other strong players.
When the Edmonton Oilers built a 2-0 lead in the first period of Game 3, it was hard to hear yourself in a building that repeatedly exceeded 100 decibels of sound.
When the Dallas Stars closed the gap and took a 5-3 win on the strength of Jason Robertson's first career playoff hat trick and Roope Hintz returning to the lineup, the energy in the crowd turned tense. With both players turning it up a level for an already strong Stars squad that leads 2-1 in the Western Conference final, the Oilers fan base will now wonder whether their team has enough in them to overcome their opponents and get to the Cup final.
"Dallas has a lot of good hockey players – we can't shut them all down," Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said post-game. "They're going to have their nights."
Robertson stepped up as an X-factor for Dallas on Monday night, representing his first true breakout game of the post-season. While Robertson hasn't had much issues putting up the points with eight in the 10 games beforehand, they were all assists.
Just scoring once propelled Robertson's offensive game the rest of the way.
"Someone asked me this morning, saying, 'Does it feel like it's been a while?' " Robertson told reporters post-game. "You're still contributing, but obviously, when you want to help the team, you want to score goals. And definitely, I think scoring one gives you confidence. It gets you ready to go – kind of just like a domino effect."
While Edmonton had the early edge, Dallas took advantage of the Oilers' inability to clear their own zone for much of the second period.
Hintz's forechecking and playmaking ability to find Robertson helped get the Stars back into the game, something the Oilers had trouble counteracting all night. Robertson had to praise his linemate for it.
"You could see the speed really drive our line through the neutral zone," Robertson said. "He was first on pucks on the forecheck, so I mean, it was a race, and he won almost all of them, if not all of them. It was a great game for him to come back in. I know it's not easy coming in, having a week or two off, but he didn't look like he missed a beat."
One of the Stars' biggest strengths on Monday was getting pucks deep into Edmonton's zone and breaking through the neutral zone.
"We just started to win battles," Hintz said. "We just tried to get the puck below their goal line because we've been losing the pucks in the neutral zone, and then they've been going back and forth, so we got to start the next game having the mindset that we know the battles and start winning every race."
With Hintz back and Robertson being effective offensively, the Oilers' continued inability to clear the zone in Game 3 is a rightful cause for concern. The Oilers surrendered 10 high-danger chances, according to naturalstattrick.com.
"Whether it's better puck movement from our defensemen or better support from our forwards, it's usually just not one or the other, but it's important to get those pucks out and keep them moving in our forwards' hands," Knoblauch said.
Their struggles starkly contrasted with the first period, which at one point saw them leading Dallas in shots 10-3. Edmonton also failed to record a shot on net in the second period until well past the 10-minute mark.
After scoring three times in under four minutes in the second frame to flip the momentum of Game 3, the No. 1 seed in the West looks like the team that won 52 games. The Oilers must figure out how to carry over a push from the first 20 minutes into the remaining 40 on Wednesday night with Dallas back at full strength.
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