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It took until the third period on Saturday, but the comeback everyone was hoping for from the Dallas Stars after their heartbreaking home-ice loss in Game 1 paid off.
Stuart Skinner hadn’t expected that.
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But he and the Edmonton Oilers found that out hard when their chance to make the Western Conference finals slipped through their fingers after a 3-1 loss in Game 2.
“It would have been nice to come out of this 2-0, but Dallas will have a lot to say about that,” said Oilers coach Chris Knobloch, whose team kept the Stars out of their own half in the first period but made just 1 of 16 shots. “It would have been nice to have scored more goals, that would have made it easier to go from there.”
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“I thought the highlight of the night was the play of our two goalies. We had chances and they had chances and we could have scored quite a few goals.”
The Stars had a string of golden chances thwarted on a comeback in the second period, but scored the winning goal on a Seeing Eye point shot four minutes into the third, then smashed the ball into an empty net at American Airlines Center to seal the victory.
It was the first breaking point of the series (a 2-0 lead for the Oilers after two games on the road would be all but fatal) and the Stars refused to break it.
“We had some big opportunities tonight and we just didn’t capitalize on them,” Connor McDavid said.
Edmonton fought well — in fact, their dominance in the first period Saturday looked like they’d have the series in their grasp before the midway point of Game 2.
But the Stars were everything you’d expect from a 113-point team that absolutely had to win this game: They overcame adversity in the first period, kept their cool when nothing came of it in the second, and thrived when the game was going to be decided in the third.
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“I don’t think we played well enough in the first period, but Jake (Ottinger) stepped up and made a bunch of great saves,” said Dallas forward Mason Marchment, who scored the winning goal. “After that, we took control and started playing our game. We played great the rest of the game. Everybody in that room knew we had to be better.”
The third game of the best-of-five series will be played at Rogers Place on Monday night.
“We’re going to try to use the energy of the fans and keep building our game,” defenseman Mattias Ekholm said. “It’s even right now. We came here and we brought it to a draw and we’re happy about that. Now it’s time to go home, raise our level and dominate the game.”
Answer Man
If the Stars were going to take the lead in this one, it seemed like it would happen early on when Jamie Benn scored on his first shot at 3:39 into the game, eliciting a roar from the crowd and Dallas bench and setting the stage for just the start the home team was hoping for.
Just 44 seconds later, the Oilers’ fourth line went all out to put the game away, Connor Brown’s first playoff point putting Edmonton back on track. There was a lot of grief and concern about Brown’s offensive contributions in the first half of the season (he contributed zero), but he flourished in the playoffs with his production on the penalty kick and as an addition to a great fourth line.
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Edmonton continued to come out on top after that, outscoring Dallas in shots 16-4 in the first period and somehow finishing 1-1.
“We knew they were going to come out of the Game 1 loss feeling unsatisfied and upbeat,” Ekholm said, “but I think we took that frustration out on them.”
It was a shame but it was no good.
The Stars felt like they could have scored at least a couple goals in the second period, and they probably should have, but a combination of Stuart Skinner and some tenacity around Edmonton’s own goal netted some solid goals from Dallas.
But the Stars dominated the game, holding Edmonton to just 13 shots before finding the back of the net to make it 3-1 after the first interval.
“They raised the level of their game,” Knobloch said. “We probably had as many shots as we did in the first period, but we had our chances in the third period when they kept checking us hard to protect their lead.”
Late Hit
The Stars were again without their second-leading regular-season scorer (30) as Roope Hintz continued to sit out … Leon Draisaitl’s 13-game point streak was ended. … Adam Henrique took part in pregame warmups but did not play.
Email: rtychkowski@postmedia.com
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