Stars Beat Oilers
DALLAS — It wasn’t the prettiest win of the season, but for a team on a four-game losing streak and 1-5-2 in January heading into Thursday, the Dallas Stars will take a 3-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers at American Airlines Center.
Center Jason Spezza had a goal and an assist and goalie Antti Niemi stopped 23 of 25 shots for Dallas (30-13-5), which began a three-game homestand.
“Coming off a disappointing trip for us, I thought we came out and played a good first period,” Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. “We had some opportunities to put the game away but didn’t, and at the end they were still hanging around, and it could have been dangerous.”
Left winger and captain Jamie Benn and defenseman Jyrki Jokipakka also scored for the Stars.
Right wingers Teddy Purcell and Nail Yakupov scored for Edmonton (19-25-5), which has lost eight of its last nine road games (1-5-3).
“We created enough chances and attempts at the net to have an opportunity to win,” Oilers coach Todd McLellan said. “When I look at the goals they got, they were two slot-area goals that we were somewhat sloppy clearing the puck away, but we tried to make plays coming out of there that cost us. And then once again we deflect one into our own net. A couple of those are preventable.”
The Stars had two notable near-misses on the power play early in the
third period, with center Tyler Seguin finding the crossbar on a one-timer from the left circle at 7:09 and Benn finding the right post 35 seconds later.
Yakupov scored his fourth goal of the season with 3:03 remaining in regulation, when he beat Niemi short side with a wrist shot from the slot that deflected in off the right pad.
Oilers goaltender Cam Talbot stopped 32 of 35 shots in a losing effort before leaving the ice with 1:30 remaining.
The Stars took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission when Spezza scored his 16th of the season off a backhand at 1:23. After receiving a pass from defenseman Johnny Oduya, Spezza skated in front of the goal and beat Talbot with a backhand from the slot that traveled in under the goaltender’s right arm.
Edmonton nearly tied it at 6:17 of the second, but center Jordan Eberle hit the crossbar with a rising one-timer from the left circle with the Oilers on the power play.
Dallas appeared to take a 2-0 lead 9:31 into the second when Jokipakka beat Talbot top shelf and far post off the rush from the right circle. However, an Oilers coaching challenge that right winger Ales Hemsky was offside early in the sequence was successful and the goal was nullified.
Benn gave Dallas a second goal with 6:44 remaining in the second when he beat Talbot far post off a wrist shot from the slot. Benn’s unassisted goal was his 27th of the season, third-most in the NHL.
“Two bad plays, one mistake and then a lucky shot,” Benn said of his goal.
Edmonton cut it to 2-1 with 2:56 remaining in the second when Purcell scored his 11th of the season as the Oilers were on the power play. Twenty seconds after Purcell found the crossbar with a wrist shot from the left circle, his second effort resulted in him beating Niemi near post with a wrist shot from the slot.
Fifteen seconds later, Dallas regained its two-goal edge when Jokipakka scored his second goal of the season when his wrist shot from the high slot deflected in off the stick of Oilers left winger Benoit Pouliot, giving Dallas a 3-1 edge after two periods.
“We didn’t want them to get any momentum,” Ruff said. “That was actually a big point in the game for us because all of a sudden they got on the board and they could grab some momentum in the game. We got it right back.”
