Wrapping up a four-game road trip that included a three-games-in-four-nights tour of western Canada, the Dallas Stars settled for one point in a 2-1 overtime loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Friday night. Dallas concluded the trip with a 2-0-2 record.
One night after finishing off a season series sweep of the Vancouver Canucks wth a 4-2 victory, the Stars enjoyed territorial dominance over the Oilers (including a 43-24 overall shot disparity and a 15-4 blitz in the third period) but goaltender Anders Nilsson was the big equalizer in the game. His key saves included breakaway stops on both Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn. Antti Niemi stopped 22 of 24 shots in a losing cause for Dallas.
Taylor Hall opened the scoring with an unassisted goal at 14:49 of the first period, capitalizing on a turnover by Jordie Benn and a flubbed clearing attempt for Jason Demers. The Stars answered back late in the second period with a gritty goal by the fourth line. Vernon Fiddler cleanly won an offensive zone faceoff to Jamie Oleksiak, who snapped a shot on goal as Mattias Janmark made a beeline to the net. Nilsson stopped the first shot by Oleksiak as well as Janmark's first crack at the rebound but Janmark beat his Swedish countryman with a second effort to bag his fifth goal of the season.
After Edmonton barely hung on in a lopsided third period to force OT, the Oilers won the game on the second shift of the three-on-three. The Stars were unable to control a bouncing puck on the defensive half boards, and it was claimed by Leon Draisaitl. Finding an open Jordan Eberle in the high right slot, Draisaitl made a nice pass. Eberle took care of the rest, sniping the game-winning goal at the 45-second mark.
The Stars (20-5-2) return home for a three-night mini-break in the schedule. The Carolina Hurricanes pay a visit to the American Airlines Center on Tuesday, followed by the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday. Dallas currently holds the best record in the NHL and has an eight-point lead on the St. Louis Blues for first place in the Central Division. The Blues have one game in hand.