Stars ‘just weren’t good enough’ in Game 5 loss to Oilers

DALLAS – Tyler Seguin said the Dallas Stars “just weren’t as connected as we usually are.” Matt Duchene said they “just weren’t good enough” through the first two periods.

Stars coach Pete DeBoer said it was more about the Edmonton Oilers playing a great road game in their 3-1 win against Dallas in Game 5 of the Western Conference Final at American Airlines Center on Friday.

Whether it was what the Stars weren’t doing or what the Oilers were doing, the fact remains that Dallas trails Edmonton 3-2 in the best-of-7 series and is on the brink of elimination in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

“If you’re going to draw up a road game, that’s pretty much what you want to do, right? You want to come out, get two power-play goals early in the game, get the lead, then defend well all night,” DeBoer said of the Oilers, who got their power-play goals from forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins at 14:09 of the first period and 1:06 of the second.

“So, it’s tough to crack through when you’re down two or three goals. I know I say that and there’s been big swings in this series. As the games get deeper, those leads are tougher to overcome. So, really good road game by them.”

Game 6 is at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Sunday (8 p.m. ET; TVAS, SN, TNT, truTV, MAX).

There’s no doubt the Oilers played strong, defensive hockey with a 2-0 lead Friday. They clamped down on the Stars, who came into Game 5 averaging 2.94 goals per game in the postseason, holding them to 10 shots on goal through the first two periods. Three of those shots came on a power play late in the second.

But Stars players said they have to be able to break through.

“They’re breaking out well, but we weren’t getting pucks back enough," Duchene said. "When we dumped it in, we didn’t get it back and we carried it in. We didn’t set it up well enough in the O-zone. Give them credit. They’re doing a good job. They blocked a lot of shots tonight (25), but we have to be better.”

Duchene said the Stars have been “a bit disjointed offensively this whole series.” So, how do they change that?

“We just have to trust ourselves and go after them,” he said. “I think we’ve been a bit tentative at times. Obviously, they have some world-class talent and we can go after them a little more and trust our game.”

The Stars looked like they were trusting their game more in the third period. The urgency was there, as were some prime scoring opportunities.

Forward Wyatt Johnston redirected defenseman Thomas Harley’s shot at 14:09 of the third period, cutting the Oilers lead to 3-1 and giving the Stars some life. Edmonton goaltender Stuart Skinner, however, thwarted the rest of Dallas’ chances.

Prior to Johnston scoring, the Stars’ last goal was from defenseman Esa Lindell at 5:29 of the first period of Game 4. That gave the Stars a 2-0 lead at the time. The Oilers scored eight goals in a row after that.

“Little more desperation. Not in a very good spot going into the third period, but I mean, we’ve come back in games down three, four goals,” Johnston said. “Just that desperation, winning more battles, just try to get the puck, get some more opportunities in front of the net.”

The Stars have been here before, when they faced elimination in the first round against the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 7. They’ve talked of their resilience throughout the postseason. They’ll need to tap into that Sunday to stay alive.

“We’ve been in this situation before,” Duchene said. “We had a Game 7 already, this team we’re playing had the same situation as we’re going into right now (against the Vancouver Canucks in the second round). So, this team, we’re never out of it. We have a great hockey team and a lot of character in this room, and there’ll be no quit.”