The Edmonton Oilers surrendered three power-play goals early in the third period against the Dallas Stars on Wednesday, resulting in a 6-3 Game 1 loss in the Western Conference Final.
“It just kills the momentum,” superstar forward Leon Draisaitl said. “Then you’re chasing the game. The game changes from there. We gotta be an awful lot more mature than that.”
“We gotta stay out of the box,” Draisaitl added. “There’s going to be penalties. We gotta come up with a kill. I’m not on (the penalty kill), so who am I to say anything, but that’s just common sense, that’s a fact. Once you have a chance to tie the game up on the power play, then it’s our turn to be much better than that.”
Edmonton controlled play through 40 minutes and built a 3-1 lead entering the final frame.
Dallas started the third on the power play, with Miro Heiskanen scoring 32 seconds into the period. Oilers forwards Corey Perry and Evander Kane then took high-sticking penalties, and the Stars converted both power-play opportunities to take the lead.
“It’s a tough pill to swallow, for sure,” said goaltender Stuart Skinner. “You just can’t be doing that, especially playoff time, especially against a team like this. They know how to score goals, obviously. Mature team. I know we have that in us as well, and we’ve done it many, many times. Just let it slip for a little bit, and we’ll get back at it, for sure.”
The Oilers’ penalty kill now sits at 62.2% in the playoffs.
Edmonton’s PK is 22.6% worse than the next closest unit among the four remaining teams in the conference finals.
“Whether it’s a won battle, a clear, a block, whatever play’s gotta be made on the PK, you gotta make it,” said defenseman Darnell Nurse. “We didn’t do that enough tonight.”
Despite the loss, the Oilers owned 56% of the shot attempts and outchanced Dallas 26-17 at five-on-five, according to Natural Stat Trick.
Nurse was pleased with the team’s even-strength performance.
“Our five-on-five game, I thought, was really good,” Nurse said. “For us, we gotta use it more. We know they have a good power play. In the last couple of series too, when we buckled down and stayed out of the box and kept the game at five-on-five, we played to the strength of our team.”
Game 2 of the series is Friday in Dallas.
