GAME RECAP: Stars 6, Oilers 2

EDMONTON, AB -The Dallas Stars showed why they are a team on the rise on Saturday afternoon.
Forwards Jason Robertson and Jamie Benn lead the way for the Central Division leaders, with Robertson notching a goal and two assists on the day and Benn recording the hat trick in a 6-2 defeat for Edmonton to Dallas.
"They out-battled us," defenceman Darnell Nurse said. "They came out and played a hard game from the start. We didn't match their intensity and their compete, and ended up on the wrong side of it."
Between the pipes for Dallas, Scott Wedgewood turned away 27-of-29 shots on the night to out-duel Oilers netminder Jack Campbell, who made 30 saves on 36 shots.
Edmonton found the scoresheet courtesy of a trademark Leon Draisaitl power-play goal from the right circle, while Darnell Nurse notched his third of the season and 200th career NHL point off the rush, but it wouldn't be enough to overcome the Stars offensive attack.
The Oilers will now embark on a four-game Eastern Conference road trip with stops in Washington, Tampa Bay, Carolina and Florida.

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FIRST BLOOD

Dallas struck first just 6:15 into the game off the stick of noted Oilers killer Joe Pavelski.
With the puck in Edmonton's defensive zone, Robertson spun and fired a low shot from the right circle which Jack Campbell kicked aside. Unfortunately for the Oilers, the rebound found its way to the stick of Roope Hintz, who zipped a pass to the charging Pavelski towards the Oilers net for the easy tip-in goal and the 1-0 Dallas lead.
"I thought if you look at that first period, you saw the chances that we had to score," Coach Woodcroft said. "We had a couple of breakaways, a couple of three-on-twos, and a couple in alone with a goaltender, but I don't go to that. I go to what we gave up, and I think we can be a lot harder in certain areas on the ice. We have been through most of this young season, but tonight, it wasn't there for us."
The tally was the long-time veteran's sixth of the season and the 26th of his career against the Oilers. Pavelski now has 59 career points in just 61 games against the Oilers, with only his 31 goals against the Arizona Coyotes being the only team he's lit the lamp more against in his NHL career.

GOING SUPERNOVA

It took 15 seconds to bring some heat to the matinee matchup.
Things kicked off with Warren Foegele getting hit from behind by Pavelski deep in the Dallas zone. With the ref's arms staying down, Zach Hyman chose his own form of justice, flying in for the body check on the Dallas forward.
The hit would draw the ire of Hintz, who slashed Hyman as he was heading down the ice, finally drawing a call from the referee. Once the whistle rang out, a scrum would ensue behind the Oilers net, but with no additional minors being called.
Unfortunately for the Oilers, they would be unable to capitalize on the man advantage and Dallas would grasp the momentum for the remainder of the game.

STAR POWER

With Dallas holding on to a 2-1 and just having killed off a penalty, their big guns went to work on the Oilers.
First it was last year's 41-goal man in Robertson sniping a shot from the left circle short side on Campbell. The puck would ping off the post, hit the Oilers goalie in the back, and trickle into the net for the 3-1 advantage.
Then, it took Robertson 39 seconds to add to the visitor's advantage.
With Derek Ryan in the box for a hooking call, the extra space provided by his absence gave the 23-year-old winger the room he needed to operate. Robertson came in down the right side, fired a shot on Campbell, collected his own rebound and slid it in behind the Oilers goalie for an easy tap-in for Benn. The goal was part of an 18-shot, three-goal period by the Central Division leading Stars.

"I don't think there's one element when you lose a game like that," Ryan said. "I think that battle effort for sure is one of them. I thought we lost too many one one battles, stick battles, and they're a good team. They're a resilient team, too. They seem to continue to get that one extra goal when we felt like we were getting back into the game, and that's what it's going to be like when you play against top teams.
"It's a good wake-up call for us."
Robertson currently leads the team with an impressive 18 points in his first 12 games after recording 79 points (41G, 38A) last season in 74 games in 2021-22.

SAVE OF THE GAME

A stretch of Soup stole the a goal away from the Stars.
Midway through the first period, a quick stick by Ty Dellandrea allowed the forward to go in all alone against Campbell, but it was the goaltender that came out on top. The Stars forward used quick hands and good reach to try and fool Edmonton's netminder with a tuck in at the right post, but Campbell pulled out a full pad split to deny the goal with 7:16 left in the period.

Campbell was leaned on heavily in the first period as Dallas found a way to generate several turnovers in the Oilers offensive zone. The 30-year-old turned aside 10-of-11 shots in the opening frame, keeping the contest close for the home side.
Despite the strong start, luck would not be on Campbell's side on the evening as everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. A point shot from Colin Miller would blast through the netting in the goaltender's glove, two rebounds found their way directly to Stars forwards for goals, Robertson's wrister off the post and off Campbell's back, and a deflection on the powerplay which gave Benn an open net to fire home his second of the game.

PARTING WORDS

Coach Woodcroft on a disappointing loss to Dallas:
"I thought today, that's a team loss. It's not one person. We got out-everything'd tonight. We as a group did, and to me, in the twelve games of the year that we've played, we laid an egg tonight and that's the first time I've seen that this year where we didn't have it in all facets of the game. To a man, we weren't good enough. It's not one person."
"We've got a long plane ride to digest what we put down today and to come up with a game plan to get better. As I said, 12 games into the year, that was an egg we laid today. There's no skirting around it. We weren't good enough and I don't think anybody in our room would argue otherwise."

Campbell on his play on Saturday and his drive to improve for his teammates:
"Kind of like it's gone all year for me personally. I just haven't brought my best, and frankly, it's just been pathetic the way I've been playing. I owe it to this team to bring my A-game and they haven't seen it yet, so I'm going to just keep working hard and I'm going to get through this and be there for the guys. But they've been playing great."
Coach Woodcroft on Campbell's honestly towards his play early this season:
"I think any time individuals are maybe not where they want to be, you've got to work your way to get to the point where you want to be and I'm confident Jack is going to put the work in. He's a great teammate, we have confidence in him, and he'll continue to work through it just as any other position player that struggles. I think you put the work in and you eventually see the results."
Ryan on not hanging the loss on their netminder:
"I don't think it has anything to do with our goaltender. I think it has to do with what we're giving up. We're giving up way too much. He's making big saves for us and we got to play better in front of them."