Deep And Balanced Stars Beat Oilers Saturday, Showing Their Gutsy Resilience After A Defeat

The Dallas Stars lost their first game of the season Thursday against Washington, but Dallas showed its reliable ability to bounce back with a convincing win over the Edmonton Oilers.

The Dallas Stars only lost two games or more seven times last season – and they only lost more than three games in a row two times. That’s what you call outstanding consistency – and that’s why you had to expect the Stars were going to come out strongly when they took on Edmonton Saturday afternoon in Dallas and beat the Oilers by a 4-1 score..

On this day, it was veteran center Matt Duchene’s time to shine, as he potted his first goal of the night on the power play with 26 seconds left in the second period to give Dallas the first goal of the night. Duchene then made it 2-0 for the Stars with his third of the season at the 12:06 mark of the third period – and 1:10 later, star center Roope Hintz scored his third of the season to put the Stars in a commanding lead.

The Oilers got on the scoreboard with 2:22 left in regulation time on a Leon Draisaitl goal. But left winger Jason Robertson scored his third of the year on an empty-netter with 1:59 left in the third. And Hintz posted his second assist and third point of the day on Robertson’s goal to put the game out of reach for Edmonton, which had its two-game win streak snapped Saturday. Logan Stankoven also chipped in a pair of assists for Dallas, whose next game comes Tuesday night in a road game against the struggling Buffalo Sabres.

The Stars’ season has gone about as good as it could possibly go, with a 5-1-0 record to lead all teams in the Central Division. And it’s their balanced scoring effort that is keeping them in the win column far more often than not; their top six scorers – Wyatt Johnston, Mason Marchment, Stankoven, Hintz, Robertson and Duchene – all have at least five points in six games. This is what we’ve come to expect from this deep Dallas team, and the Oilers really had no answer for the Stars’ attack Saturday.

Dallas GM Jim Nill has built a night-in, night-out Stanley Cup front-runner, and the Stars are rewarding him for his faith in them. Dallas is going to push most teams to their limit this season, and what we saw in the win over the Oilers is a very good harbinger of what’s to come the rest of the way this year. 

After a loss, the Stars are a safe bet to post a win, and that was true of their victory over Edmonton.

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