Game 1 Curse: Stars Lose in Double OT to Edmonton

For seven straight playoff series now, the Dallas Stars have trailed 1-0 after Game 1 after Connor McDavid scored almost immediately in double overtime to give Edmonton a 3-2 win to open the Western Conference Final.

You would have to go all the way back to the bubble run during the height of COVID to find the last time the Stars won a Game 1, which interestingly enough was in the 2020 Stanley Cup Final loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Dallas was able to manage two series wins last year against Minnesota and Seattle while losing the first game of the series, but it came back to bite them in the Western Conference Final against Vegas, where they couldn't win Game 2 or Game 3 either and eventually lost in six games to the Golden Knights. 

So far in this playoff run, losing Game 1 hasn't mattered, but there may also be a bigger issue lingering. During this year's playoffs, the Stars are 3-5 at home, despite the crowd willing them to victory every night at the American Airlines Center. The Stars have only lost once on the road, paving their way to success so far through two rounds. The pressure will once again be on for the second game at home, because Dallas does not want to mess around too much with going down 0-2 in a series again, even though they prevailed in seven games over Vegas while doing that in the first round.

There were a lot of questions to be answered about the series last night, and for the first time, the Stars seemed to be the clear favorite on paper to most experts. Edmonton graded out to have less depth and far worse goaltending, but the Oilers held their own throughout the game and established that they could hang with the Stars in any facet of their game. 

The first period was all about both teams feeling each other out. It wasn't overly physical and neither team was really able to string together much offensive pressure. The Stars were given two power-play opportunities, one of which went over into the second period, but they ultimately weren't able to convert on either one.

The Oilers came into the series only allowing one power play goal on 19 opportunities, and it was evident why on those first two power plays. The penalty killers were aggressive and didn't allow Dallas much time to set up any dangerous shots. The shots on goal at the end of the first frame were 7-3 in favor of the Stars, and it was impressive to limit the highest scoring team so far this playoffs to only three shots.

Completely stifling any offensive production from the Oilers gave the Stars some momentum going into the second period. They had a bit of rollover power play time, but Edmonton killed it off and then a mere 30 seconds after the Oilers got back to full strength, a loose puck from a rebound fell right in front of Leon Draisaitl who buried it past a desperately sprawling Jake Oettinger to open up the scoring.

Four minutes later, McDavid and Zach Hyman took an odd-man rush into the Stars zone, and after initially defending well, Hyman continued to battle for the puck in front of the net. Somehow while half tied up, he got a shot off through the pads of Oettinger and it leaked through the five-hole for a 2-0 Oilers lead. Oettinger, who had a save percentage of .919% during the first two rounds, had now allowed two goals on six shots.

Just as the crowd seemed to deflate with the two goal deficit, the Oilers committed a heinous turnover in their defensive zone that Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin capitalized on. It was vintage Benn and Seguin, who started on a line with Evgenii Dadonov, as Benn deked around Stuart Skinner and slid the puck in front of a wide open net, where Seguin took several whacks at it before depositing it for the Stars first goal of the game. Through two periods, that line was the most dangerous for Dallas, but somewhat surprisingly in the third period was changed up to shift Jason Robertson in with Seguin and Dadonov, while moving Benn back with Wyatt Johnston and Logan Stankoven.

The third period was the chance for the Stars to tie things up, but Edmonton was not making it easy. A few waves of Oilers pressure threatened to extend the lead back to two goals, but Dallas and Oettinger stayed in it. The Stars couldn't really find any high danger chances on Skinner for most of the period, but a point shot into traffic was redirected by Dadonov straight to Seguin with little time left before the Stars would have had to pull Oettinger for an extra attacker. Seguin was left all alone to slam it home to a wide open net, and just like that the game was tied and overtime loomed.

The drama wasn't done, though, as Edmonton's young emerging star Dylan Holloway had a near immediate breakaway after the tying goal, but Oettinger's right pad stuck out and denied the rookie of a sure game winner. The crowd went wild as the clock ran out, and the Stars were set for their second Game 1 overtime in the Western Conference Final in a row, having lost to Vegas in the same situation last year.

Right off the first faceoff of overtime, Matt Duchene was high-sticked by McDavid, and the Oilers captain headed to the box for a double minor penalty after conversation from the referees Kelly Sutherland and Eric Furlatt. It felt like a desperately needed opportunity for the Stars to close it out early, but if the Oilers were to kill it, it could give Edmonton the momentum for the rest of the OT period.

The Stars looked dangerous on the power play, up against the top ranked postseason penalty kill, and the crowd nearly erupted in victory when Robertson hit the post not once, but twice, early on in the double minor. One of the chances went squarely off the edge and bounced back out, creating the look of the puck having gone in the net. But Edmonton survived and started to push the play, taking the momentum of the penalty kill and putting pucks on Oettinger.

McDavid had the best opportunity in the first overtime, as Hyman battled two Stars defenders and flung the puck to a wide open McDavid alone in tight. He waited, waited, waited some more, and Oettinger stuck out his paddle to deny him on what everyone thought was a sure opportunity. Chris Tanev also helped slow down the shot, getting a stick on his shot attempt at the last second.

Soon, the Stars found themselves headed into intermission before double overtime for a second game in a row, having eliminated Colorado in Game 6 of the second round in the fifth period of the game. But this one was short-lived, as McDavid once again found himself wide open in front of the net, and 30 seconds in, redirected an Evan Bouchard shot behind Oettinger for the game winner.

Skinner made 31 saves on 33 shots after only facing a total of 32 shots combined in the final two games against Vancouver. Oettinger finished with 35 saves on 38 shots.

The Oilers take a 1-0 lead into Game 2 Saturday and have now won their last three playoff games. Prior to that, Vancouver and Edmonton had traded wins in their series, but after trailing 3-2, the Oilers won Game 6 and 7 and carried that momentum into the opening game in Dallas.

Even though Edmonton drew first blood, Dallas should still feel confident that the game was pretty evenly played throughout. In fact, both teams had the exact same expected goals at 3.7 each.

 Both prior series have been a fight, and almost every game has been close, and this series looks like it could be no different. The return of Roope Hintz will help, as he is extensively skating after an upper body injury in the Colorado series, but otherwise the Stars should just continue sticking to their game. Every opponent is tough this time of year, but Dallas has the ability to win any of the upcoming games.

Puck drop at American Airlines Center is at 7 p.m. CDT on Saturday, and can be seen nationally on TNT and truTV.

Make sure you bookmark THN's Dallas Stars site for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns, and so much more.

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