NHL point and goal leader Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers came to the American Airlines Arena in Dallas on Wednesday night, and his team drilled three third-period goals for a 6-3 win over the Stars.
Warren Foegele scored the would-be game-winner for Edmonton 12 minutes into the night’s final frame.
The Oilers would score three unanswered goals in the third period, including one from former Stars player Mattias Janmark, who had two goals and an assist.
Janmark departed Dallas via free agency following last season.
Dallas goals by Roope Hintz, rookie Wyatt Johnston, and Tyler Seguin tied the game at 3-3 heading into the third period before the Stars’ wheels fell off.
WHAT TO KNOW
McDavid is chasing his third Art Ross Trophy in as many years. He has won the scoring championship trophy four times in the last six seasons. Dallas Captain Jamie Benn won the award in 2015 with 87 points — 35 goals and 52 assists.
Stuart Skinner, the 24-year-old Edmonton Oiler, made 25 saves, propelling the team to fourth place in the Pacific Conference (18-10-4, 38 points). Las Vegas (23-11-1) leads the Pacific with 47 points.
Jake Oettinger stopped 29 shots. Oettinger is 3-2 in his last five outings and 13-5-3 on the year.
Dallas started the scoring with just over five minutes to go in the first.
Joe Pavelski took a pass off the left board near the Edmonton blueline and dumped it behind him to Robertson, who zipped the puck across the ice to his right to Hintz.
Hintz slammed a one-timer that sailed over Skinner’s left blocker as the goalie did the splits.
BY THE NUMBERS
Dallas nears the winter break with a 19-9-6 record, good enough for first in the Central Division. Dallas holds a one-point lead over Winnipeg (21-10-1) at 44-43.
McDavid leads the NHL with 65 points and 29 goals, five better than Robertson’s 24 netters this season which is third-best in the league.
The Oilers have the lowest power play percentage in the NHL (13.6%, compared to Dallas’ 25.7%). Their point total of 33 has them sitting second from the bottom in the Atlantic, where the Boston Bruins are conference best at 25-4-2 for 52 points in the standings, the most in the NHL.
WHAT THEY SAID
“It was a strange game,” Stars skipper Peter DeBoer told NHL.com. “We were a little bit sloppy. I think we anticipated we would be a little bit. I was hoping we’d work our way out of it. But you can’t hand a team like that some goals, and I think we gave them some goals.”
“It’s five guys out on the ice that make mistakes,” Seguin told NHL.com. “We had a couple of looks there in the third. We had a chance; the game was there. Learn from it, obviously it’s a tough situation after the long road trip.”
NEXT UP
The Stars host the Canadiens (15-15-3) on Friday at 7 p.m. CST.
