The Dallas Stars spent much of Tuesday night's game at the American Airlines Center leading the Edmonton Oilers in possession stats but found themselves tied entering the third period. Finally, with 4:30 left in regulation, Dallas forged ahead for good to skate off with a 4-2 win.
A hat trick by Jason Spezza -- including the game-winning goal in the third period and topped off by an empty netter -- led the way offensively for Dallas. Team captain Jamie Benn tallied an early second-period goal to give the Stars a short-lived 2-0 lead.
Kari Lehtonen made his first start of the regular season, and came through with a 28-save performance. He had no chance of stopping second-period goals by Oskar Klefbom and Connor McDavid. For the highly touted McDavid, the tally was his first in the NHL.
The pivotal play of the game came at the 15:19 mark of the third period. Edmonton's Nail Yakupov got a breakaway on Lehtonen and was stoned by the Big Finn. Eleven seconds later, Antoine Roussel made a drop pass to Spezza, who buried a shot to forge 3-2 lead.
The Stars utterly dominated the Corsi/Fenwick stats on the night, outshooting the Oilers by a 52-28 margin and attempting a staggering 87 shots to 48 for Edmonton. However, Oilers goaltender Anders Nilsson was the equalizer for his club, turning back 48 of 51 shots.
Dallas lost forward Patrick Eaves in the first period with a lower-body injury. He is expected to be out for a few weeks. The player was placed in injured reserve on Wednesday. The Stars recalled Curtis McKenzie from the AHL's Texas Stars.
The Stars now take to the road for a Florida trip that will see them play Tampa Bay on Thursday and the Florida Panthers on Saturday.