GAME RECAP: Oilers 4, Stars 1

EDMONTON, AB - It took everyone in their star-studded lineup to earn two valuable points.
The Edmonton Oilers took down the Central Division-leading Dallas Stars on Thursday night, receiving 25 saves from Stuart Skinner and two goals from Mattias Janmark in a 4-1 victory at Rogers Place that marks back-to-back victories on home ice for the Blue & Orange.
"I think the guys did a great job in front of me," Skinner said. "Just a huge credit to the guys being able to box them out, not giving those second chances and being able to get in front of lanes and get sticks."
"They could've had a lot, but were able to just play a good defensive game -- especially in the second period."
Janmark scored the game-winner shorthanded in the opening frame before adding the empty-netter in the final three minutes of regulation for his second multi-goal game of the season, while Connor McDavid's 39th multi-point game of the campaign with a goal and assist made the captain the first 130-point scorer in the NHL since the 1992-93 NHL season.
Evan Bouchard posted two assists, and Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Vincent Desharnais contributed single helpers in the victory that improves Edmonton's record to 38-23-8 and 84 points.

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TIC-TAC-FOE-GOAL

Warren Foegele stayed hot with his 12th goal of the season at 12:12 of the first period that opened the scoring for Edmonton at the end of a dominant shift for the second line.
The 26-year-old had a great game on Tuesday against the Ottawa Senators, recording and goal and assist and matching a season-high for ice time with 15:55 alongside Draisaitl and Nugent-Hopkins, before continuing that top-six momentum into Thursday's tilt with the Stars with Zach Hyman out of the lineup for a second straight game.
Bouchard threw a pass diagonally from the point to the left circle for Nugent-Hopkins, who slid it across to Foegele to fire home the opening goal at the end of a nice passing play that followed a strong offensive-zone shift from 93 - 29 - 37.
Foegele's 12 goals this season are now one off his career high of 13 set in 2019-20 as a member of the Carolina Hurricanes.
"I like how hard he's playing. He's playing really hard," Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said. "I think he scored his first goal in game 12 or 13, whatever the Tampa Bay game was, and he started to come on and then got hurt. Coming off that injury, it's hard to get back up and running again when the league has gotten better, so there were some tough moments with not playing for a little bit.
"He's a professional guy. He worked at his game and he's played really well and he's finding offence, but it comes from his skating and from his hard work."

CLEANING UP ON THE KILL

The Janitor, with the Oilers understaffed on the penalty kill, cleaned up the mess.
Desharnais batted down the puck in the Oilers crease for a heroic clearance down a man, sending it out of danger and into the corner for McDavid to pick up and fly the defensive zone with speed.
The tracking Evgenii Dadonov couldn't cut the Oilers captain off at the blue line, leading to a shorthanded 2-on-1 where McDavid feathered a pass under the glove of a sliding Ryan Suter to set up Janmark for the open net and a 2-0 advantage for the Blue & Orange.

"I would [be lying] saying he wasn't a part of why I signed here. I think when players get an offer from here, that's the first thing you kind of think about," Janmark said. "But I knew hopefully you get one or two, and he's just a great player. When you come on a 2-on-1 like that, you just kind of look at what he does and then try to get open."
It was Edmonton's league-leading 13th shorthanded goal of the season and Janmark's seventh goal and 20th point as the Swedish forward was able to haunt one of his former teams again this campaign. Six of Janmark's eight tallies this season after he added the empty-netter have been against the Vegas Golden Knights, Chicago Blackhawks and Dallas Stars -- the latter of which he's put four pucks behind this year after spending four seasons in Dallas across two separate stints in 2015-16 and then from 2017-20.
"It's fun playing your old team," Janmark said. "You put a lot of effort over those years into those clubs, and then you go somewhere else and circle in those games on your calendar. I thought my game today was pretty average to be honest, but I found the net two times. So I mean, that's just the way it goes and I'm thankful for scoring two today, for sure."

McDavid's assist was the captain's 130th point of the campaign, padding his NHL salary cap era record (since 2005-06) and making him the first player since the 1992-93 season to reach the mark in a single season.

TELL ME WY(ATT)

Ain't nothin' but a heartache.
The Oilers were trending towards their first shutout of the season until Wyatt Johnston scored unassisted near the midway mark of the final frame to squash those hopes. The 19-year-old Stars centre took a clean shot from the top of the circle and tried again on the second effort before the third try was his lucky charm on St. Patrick's Day at Rogers Place.
With a pending Oilers penalty coming up, Johnston beat Skinner inside the left post to end the 24-year-old's shutout bid and give the visitors a one-goal deficit to erase in the final half of the third period.

PLAY OF THE GAME

The penalty got the game-winner, but the power play secured the two points.
McDavid's 57th of the season was the insurance Edmonton needed when the power play cashed in at a crucial time less than two minutes after Johnston halved the Oilers lead. The captain dished it to Draisaitl before losing his man in winger Joel Kiviranta for a return pass and open look from between the hashmarks, where McDavid was able to wire the 3-1 goal short side on Jake Oettinger.
"I thought our players did a good job of not policing themselves, but getting themselves back on track," Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said. "That stems from saying the right stuff on the bench and then going out and embodying it."
Janmark netted the empty-netter with 2:43 to play to seal the Oilers back-to-back victories and improve their record over their last 27 games since Jan. 11 to 17-5-5.
"I thought were patient and we showed a level of endurance," Woodcroft added. "So there was some patience and some endurance to that game, and in the end, we did more good things than not and found a way to walk out of here with two points."

PARTING WORDS

Janmark on Edmonton's depth finding ways to contribute with offence & special teams:
"Yeah, for sure. It's always easier when you score a little as a depth player. You kind of trust your own game a little bit more and you play better when you score. But we also got to go through those stretches where we don't score, and we still got to bring the work because we know we have those top players that are going to get it done for us. So we can't be out there hurting ourselves, but anytime we can step up and score goals, that's huge."
Janmark on the Oilers winning defensive battles like Thursday night in preparation for playoffs:
"I thought today was for sure a good one. Just like you said, the games in the playoffs are kind of like this. You get that first goal, you kill a few penalties and that was big. You get that second goal, you have a two-goal lead going into the third and you don't want to give that one up. But after that, we got to go in their zone, draw a penalty right away and score on that power play. Then you're up to again and kind of never look back from there, so that's the game we got to build down the stretch here and be comfortable in become playoff time."

Nurse on the confidence he & the team has in their defence heading into the post-season:
"Yeah, I think we're really confident in the group that we have. I think you look throughout the three pairs when we go 11-and-7, and all seven guys can play in all situations, so that's a good sign, I think for us, we all know our roles that we've got to play and do to the best of our ability and do whatever we can to help the team win."
Skinner on getting into a groove during five straight starts:
"My job is just to stop the puck and whenever they tell me to do that. I'm going to do my best to do that."
"I mean, everyone loves to get as many starts as they can. Obviously being able to get into a rhythm I think is massive, just kind of feeling the flow of the game. You're always kind of ready every single game you go into. You have a good routine, you get into a rhythm and that's a good spot to be at."