Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had a goal and an assist to help the Edmonton Oilers tie the Western Conference Final series 1-1 with a 3-0 win against the Dallas Stars in Game 2 at American Airlines Center on Friday.
The Stars had won seven straight home games after losing their first game of the postseason to the Colorado Avalanche.
Brett Kulak and Connor Brown each scored, and Evan Bouchard had two assists for Edmonton. Stuart Skinner made 25 saves.
Jake Oettinger made 22 saves for Dallas.
Stars forward Roope Hintz was injured in the third period and his status for Game 3 is unknown.
What we learned: The Oilers don’t blink. This is the second time in three series this postseason that they trailed after the first game. They lost the first two against the Los Angeles Kings in the first round but won four in a row to advance. This round, they opened with a 6-3 loss that featured a third period in which they allowed five goals, including three on the power play. There were no remnants of that in Game 2 as Edmonton dominated from start to finish. As usual, captain Connor McDavid was at the fore of the Oilers getting their game together. He was one of their best players, playing 23:08 with a team-high four shots. He had an assist on the goal by defenseman Brett Kulak that made it 2-0. McDavid has 59 points (17 goals, 42 assists) in 31 career games in which his team has faced a series deficit. It is tied for the fifth-most in NHL history with Luc Robitaille, who played 67 games. Ray Bourque (60 points, 67 games played), Jaromir Jagr (60 points, 63 games played), Adam Oates (62 points, 57 games played) and Wayne Gretzky (80 points, 49 games played) round out the top five. McDavid, who has 20 points (three goals, 17 assists) in 13 games played this postseason, is one of four players in NHL history to record 20-plus points in four consecutive postseasons, joining Sergei Fedorov, Mike Bossy and Bryan Trottier.
What this means for the Oilers: They will be sky high going back to Edmonton. They have won nine of their past 11 games this postseason and one of the two losses came on a fluke goal by the Vegas Golden Knights in the final second of Game 3 in the second round. Skinner pitched back-to-back shutouts to close out Vegas after allowing the goal to Reilly Smith in the Game 3 loss. He then answered for the third-period meltdown on Wednesday, when he only stopped 22 of 27 shots, by making 25 saves for his third shutout of these playoffs.
What this means for the Stars: Dallas needs to get its depth scoring going. Matt Duchene, Mason Marchment, Evgenii Dadonov and Jamie Benn each have one goal in 15 games this postseason. Those four players have combined for 88 regular-season goals. Jason Robertson, who led Dallas with 35 goals in the regular season, has yet to score in eight postseason games. He missed the first-round series against the Colorado Avalanche due to injury.
Key moment: Brown deflected a shot by Nugent-Hopkins from the far wall past Oettinger at 16:36 of the second period to make it 3-0. It was the second goal for the Oilers in 73 seconds and gave them some significant breathing room. Kulak, with his first goal in 35 playoff games, had made it 2-0 at 15:23. Brown has five goals in 13 games this postseason. He had three in his first 39 Stanley Cup Playoff games.
Unsung player of the game: Defenseman Jake Walman was quietly efficient throughout this game. Yes, he had the secondary assist on the goal by Brown and had three shots on goal, but his biggest contributions came in his own end. He played 16:12 and blocked three shots, tied for the team lead with Bouchard and Leon Draisaitl.
What’s next: The series shifts to Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta for Game 3 on Sunday (3 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+, SN, CBC, TVAS). One team will take a 2-1 lead in this series, which is traditionally a position of dominance. The team that leads a best-of-7 series 2-1 has advanced 68.9 percent (394-178).
