The Dallas Stars host an afternoon meeting with the Edmonton Oilers Saturday in a rematch of the Western Conference Final from a season ago.
The last time the Edmonton Oilers came to Dallas, a trip to the Stanley Cup Final was on the line in Game 5 of the Western Conference Final last season, a game and a series that Edmonton went on to win.
Now, an early season rematch comes with both a lot of hype and a bit of bitterness for Dallas Stars fans and the team as well. So many people thought that Dallas would be the better team in that series, but the Oilers found a way and the Stars did not.
That loss, still fresh in the minds of many players and coaches, is the motivation to work harder to avoid feeling those gut-wrenching emotions at the end of a playoff series. The Stars have been so close to an elusive Stanley Cup championship, and this year is as good as any to go win the whole thing.
Dallas suffered their first loss of the season on Thursday in the nation's capital, a 3-2 back-and-forth battle with the Washington Capitals. The Stars had an excellent track record at Capital One Arena, but the Caps got a second period game winner from Taylor Raddysh, beating Stars goaltender Casey DeSmith from up high, and held on despite a third period push from Dallas. Colin Blackwell scored a spectacular shorthanded goal, and Jason Robertson notched his second goal of the season.
Dallas could not capitalize on any power play opportunities once again, and in many instances weren't even close to getting a high danger shot on Capitals goaltender Charlie Lindgren. The team is now 1-for-17 on power play opportunities. This is becoming a problem early in the season, and head coach Pete DeBoer said as much after the game.
"It's time to execute. We've got to get a power play goal in a game like that," DeBoer said.
Going back to the Western Conference Final against the Oilers, the power play also struggled then. Dallas was 0-for-14 and allowed a shorthanded goal against in six games. The difference between winning a Cup and not is extremely marginal, and the power play can often be a deciding factor in a tight series.
Meanwhile, the Edmonton Oilers got off to an extremely rough 0-3-0 start, a start eerily similar to the slump that got then coach Jay Woodcroft fired and replaced by Kris Knoblauch, who eventually turned it around and took them all the way to Game 7 in the Cup Final.
Edmonton was set to lose a fourth game in a row to start the season, but a late tying goal against Philadelphia sent the game into overtime, where Leon Draisaitl scored the game winner and put the Oilers into the win column for the first time. Edmonton followed that up with a road win against the winless Nashville Predators on Thursday. Defenseman Brett Kulak scored two goals and Connor McDavid scored his first goal of the season in a 4-2 road victory.
What to watch for:
- Matt Duchene has 12 points in his last 12 games against the Oilers, and 42 points in 45 career games against the storied Canadian franchise. Jamie Benn also has 42 points in 43 career games against Edmonton.
- Wyatt Johnston is on a five game point streak to begin the season. Even though it seemed like he got off to a slow start, he is still chugging along at a point-per-game pace early on.
- Sam Steel tweaked something in the game against Washington, and is uncertain for the afternoon game against the Oilers. An AHL forward would replace him in the lineup if necessary, meaning Tyler Seguin was never an option to return Saturday. Seguin will miss his third game in a row.
- Speaking of Steel, the fourth line continued to excel Thursday, with Colin Blackwell notching his first goal of the season and Oskar Back getting several high quality chances. Back got his first NHL point on the Blackwell goal, and if he continues playing like that, his first NHL goal will be soon to follow.
- Brendan Smith took an awkward hit Thursday, but appears to be fine to remain in the lineup and not miss any time. Alexander Petrovic remains the other option to take his place on defense.
- With his first goal of the season, Connor McDavid got his fifth point of the season and is on a four game point streak for Edmonton. McDavid was shut down by Dallas in some of the series last year, but broke out when needed in big moments. He has recorded at least a point in 10 of his last 13 regular season games against Dallas.
- The Oilers also have only one power play goal on the season, going 1-for-13 so far. Their penalty kill has let in eight goals already as compared to the Dallas penalty kill only allowing one.
Sam Steel was labeled as questionable for today's game. Additionally, Matej Blumel was recalled from the Texas Stars and could likely slot in.
Projected lines:
Robertson-Hintz-Johnston
Marchment-Duchene-Dadonov
Benn-Borque-Stankoven
Blumel-Back-Blackwell
Harley-Heiskanen
Lindell-Lundkvist
Smith-Lybushkin
Oettinger
DeSmith
Puck drop is early at 3 p.m. CDT and can be seen exclusively on Victory+ locally and out of market on ESPN+.
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