Robertson hat trick powers Stars past Oilers in Game 3

EDMONTON -- Jason Robertson scored a hat trick, and the Dallas Stars rallied for a 5-3 win against the Edmonton Oilers in Game 3 of the Western Conference Final at Rogers Place on Monday.

Robertson, who had gone 10 games without a goal, gave the Stars a 4-3 lead at 11:54 of the third period when he banked in a shot off Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner from below the goal line to complete his hat trick.

“Goal-scorers like him, you need one to drop and, all of a sudden, it looks like a soccer net,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “Goal-scorers are all streaky like that, and obviously having Roope (Hintz) back helps.”

Dallas leads the series 2-1. Game 4 is here on Wednesday (8:30 p.m. ET, CBC, TVAS, SN, TNT, truTV, MAX).

Hintz assisted on two of Robertson’s goals in his return for the Stars, the top seed from the Central Division who trailed 2-0 after one period. Jake Oettinger made 28 saves.

Hintz had missed the previous four games with an upper-body injury sustained in Game 4 of the second round against the Colorado Avalanche on May 13.

“I think we just started to win battles and just tried to get pucks below the goal line,” said Hintz. “I didn’t really have the best first period, so it was great to see that we came back in the second and started winning battles.”

Connor McDavid had a goal and an assist for the Oilers, the No. 2 seed from the Pacific Division. Skinner made 17 saves.

“It was a little bit frustrating. You knew that they were going to push back, these guys obviously want to make it to the finals,” Skinner said. “And obviously we do as well, but I think we just let off the gas a little bit.

“The main thing is I just can’t be letting in four goals, especially against the Dallas Stars, how good they are defensively.”

Zach Hyman put the Oilers ahead 1-0 at 2:02 of the first period, deflecting in McDavid’s shot from the right dot from behind Oettinger at the far post. Hyman leads the NHL with 13 goals in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, including seven in seven home games.

McDavid made it 2-0 at 7:37, after Mattias Ekholm skated the puck around the back of the net and hit him at the far post. It was McDavid’s 100th playoff point (33 goals, 67 assists) in 64 games.

“I thought they went up a couple levels, and we went down a few levels. Obviously, you see the difference,” McDavid said. “You try to keep playing. You don’t go up by two and say, ‘Let’s just hold this all the way through for the next 50 minutes.’

“We’re obviously trying to keep playing and we let one get away there.”

The Stars scored three goals in a span of 3:33 in the second period to take a 3-2 lead.

“It was a complete reversal of the first period,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “I think they really were ready to come out hard and have a good push, and we were just kind of hoping things would just continue sailing in the first period, caught us by surprise.

“I think we had our start we needed but took our foot off the pedal.”

Robertson made it 2-1 at 5:35 of the second, one-timing a pass by Hintz in the left circle and sending it under Skinner’s glove for his first goal in 11 games.

“Definitely, you want to score goals,” Robertson said. “It’s been a while, and you still contribute but obviously when you want to help the team you want to score goals and scoring one gives you confidence and gets you ready to go.

“Kind of just like a domino effect.”

Robertson tied it 2-2 at 8:05 with a backhand shot over Skinner’s left shoulder from the slot.

Wyatt Johnston gave Dallas a 3-2 lead at 9:08 when Jamie Benn trapped a clearing attempt by Oilers defenseman Vincent Desharnais and sent it in front to Logan Stankoven, who dished it over to Johnston for the goal past Skinner’s blocker.

Adam Henrique, who missed the previous seven games with a lower-body injury, tied it 3-3 with 53 seconds left in the period. Thomas Harley turned the puck over in the right corner to Connor Brown, who found Henrique for the short-side tip-in over Oettinger’s glove.

After Robertson completed his hat trick to give Dallas a 4-3 lead, Miro Heiskanen scored an empty-net goal off a face-off in his own end at 18:05 for the 5-3 final.

“They pushed and we didn’t,” Henrique said. “That’s it. Teams are going to push like that. It’s a good team over there, we have to find a way to calm down and get back to our game.”

NOTES: Robertson is the second player in Stars franchise history to score a hat trick in the round before the Stanley Cup Final, joining Minnesota North Stars forward Dino Ciccarelli (1981). … Henrique scored his first goal during the round before the Stanley Cup Final since he had the overtime clincher with the DeBoer-led New Jersey Devils in Game 6 of the 2012 Eastern Conference Final against the New York Rangers.