Three Takeaways from Stars' Game 3 Win Over Edmonton

Dallas has a 2-1 lead in the Western Conference Final. Here are takeaways from the 5-3 victory.

Prior to this year's Western Conference Final, the Dallas Stars and Edmonton Oilers hadn't faced off in a playoff series since 2003. But the Stars played in Edmonton more recently, during the 2020 playoff bubble when they advanced to the Stanley Cup Final.

So Rogers Place was a familiar playoff venue for the Stars as they took their 5-1 post-season road record into Game 3. They knew the Oilers and their fans would bring it with the series tied at a game apiece, and they were right.

Edmonton jumped out to a 2-0 lead after owning the first period, but the Stars never panicked.

"We know we're here for a reason," said Stars forward Jason Robertson, whose hat trick over two periods was the catalyst for the victory. "We know we're a great hockey team, and we know if we do what needs to be done and everyone does their job and we trust the system, it's going to be successful."

The game had no shortage of storylines. Here are three takeaways from the victory.

Playoff hockey is full of surges, and Monday's game was no exception. The Oilers dominated the first period almost from the get-go, jumping out to a 2-0 lead within the first 7-1/2 minutes on goals by Zach Hyman and Connor McDavid.

Dallas looked like a totally different team in the second period, scoring three goals in the span of 3:33, the fastest three playoff goals in team history. Robertson scored two goals to tie the score 2-2 before Wyatt Johnston put Dallas in the lead 3-2 off a feed from Logan Stankoven.

The Stars failed to win puck battles in the first period, making a difference on Edmonton's first two goals. Defenseman Ryan Suter lost his stick on Hyman's goal, which put him out of position. Oettinger made the save on Hyman's first shot attempt, but McDavid got the rebound and his shot deflected off Hyman to put the Oilers in the lead.

McDavid boxed out Stars forward Tyler Seguin in front of the net, took a pass from Mattias Ekholm at the far post and registered his 100th point of his post-season career.

Dallas reversed the trend and came out on the attack in the second period, winning the puck battles and peppering Oilers netminder Stuart Skinner with 16 shots on goal compared to just three in the first.

"We've got an honest group," Stars head coach Pete DeBoer told reporters after the game. "I think it was just about resetting. We knew Edmonton would come out hard. I think it was a perfect storm. They scored early in the first period, got the crowd into it, got some momentum. We couldn't get any (offensive) zone shifts to kind of take some pressure off. They did a good job. I thought the second period was a chance to reset and get to our game."

Slow starts are nothing new for the Stars, who had a sluggish first period in Game 1 before falling to the Oilers 3-2 in double overtime. It's dangerous to wait until the second period or later to get in gear against a high-octane Edmonton team.

One player can sometimes change the way a forward line flows. Roope Hintz is a great example, returning to the lineup after missing four games with an upper-body injury.

It only took a period before the Stars' forward showed why he is such an asset even when he doesn't put the puck in the net. His speed and aggressiveness on the forecheck enabled the Stars to get rolling offensively in the second period.

Hintz assisted on Robertson's first two goals, feeding a pass to him in the left circle and got the puck to him following a scramble in front of the net on the second. He was also a major factor on the penalty-kill, as the Oilers failed to score in their two power-play chances.

Hintz skated almost every day during his absence, so getting back into playoff action wasn't as difficult as it might have been had he missed more games.

"I had the speed there and my legs and lungs," Hintz said after the game. "It's a fast, heavy game, and we didn't have the best first period. But it was great to see that we came back in the second and started winning battles."

Hintz has eight points (2-6-8) through 12 games, but his other contributions were missed during the four-game absence. Monday was proof of that.

Rogers Place seems to be a magnet for hat tricks, at least where the Dallas Stars are concerned.

Of the six playoff hatties in Dallas history, four have come in Edmonton. Three came in the 2020 bubble from Joe Pavelski, Denis Gurianov and Joel Kiviranta. The fourth occurred Monday night.

Jason Robertson had gone 10 games without getting a goal, the last one coming in Game 5 of the Stars' first-round series against the Vegas Golden Knights. Despite that drought, Robertson came into Game 3 against Edmonton tied for second in points with Wyatt Johnston (13), so he was finding other ways to generate scoring for other teammates.

Monday's performance now gives Robertson the team points lead with 16 (6-10-16), a point-per-game average. He recorded the first playoff hat trick of his career and his first since December of 2022. The only thing missing was the lack of hats being thrown on the ice in an opposing venue.

"I mentally threw mine," Robertson's linemate, Tyler Seguin, said.

The lack of actual hats was the farthest thing from Robertson's mind. He and Hintz partnered on the first two goals that got the Stars back in the game 2-2. His third was a real work of art, threading a bank shot from below the goal line that found the tiniest of spaces between the post and Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner.

"In my gut, I thought he was gonna maybe get four," Seguin said. "He was just having one of those nights. His third goal... They might talk about the goalie, but that's just a 'Robo' shot right there."

Of his dry spell, Robertson said, "definitely, you want to score goals. It's been a while, and you still contribute but obviously when you want to help the team, you want to score goals and scoring one gives you confidence and gets you ready to go."

Robertson became the second player in franchise history to get a hat trick in the round before the Stanley Cup Final. The other was Minnesota North Stars forward Dino Ciccarelli, who did it in 1981.

Robertson's performance once again underscores the importance of having offensive depth. When one player hits a dry spell, another is there to pick up the slack. The Stars will need that trend to continue if they hope to capture another game in Edmonton Wednesday for a 3-1 series lead.