Stars Fall Flat For Second Straight Game. Oilers Take 2-1 Series Lead
The Dallas Stars came into Sunday's Game 3 contest coming off an abysmal performance in Game 2 that saw them suffer a shutout loss on their home ice. Things would not get easier for them as they attempted to balance bouncing back, and the hostile environment in Edmonton.
No Further Discipline on Play Leading to Stars Forward Injury The
Dallas Stars dropped Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals at home, but the 3-0 loss was not the biggest blow the Stars suffered.
The Dallas Stars got outplayed in what was a very underwhelming performance on Friday night, ultimately dropping Game 2, 3-0. With the series tied and heading to Alberta, the Stars would be sure to bring their best game on Sunday afternoon. In the first 14 minutes of Sunday's game, it looked like the Stars set a good foundation to begin the game and would be able to keep pace with Edmonton. That would change quickly when the Oilers would receive production from Evan Bouchard and Connor McDavid.
Stars Look to Spark Some Offense and Take Series Lead in Edmonton The Dallas Stars are in Edmonton for Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals. The first game in Alberta is a matinee game, which makes a quick turn around for both teams.
Dallas would come back in the second period swinging with a goal from Jason Robertson, while outshooting the Oilers 21-7. Connor McDavid would notch another goal to put the game within two. The game would ultimately slip out of the Stars's grasp, with the Oilers pulling away in the third period en route to a 6-1 victory, taking a 2-1 series lead.
Tyler Seguin Can Play Role Of Spark Plug To Counter Edmonton Stars The
Dallas Stars currently find themselves ahead after the Western Conference Final kicked off on Wednesday night. The Stars came out of the gates of their series guns blazing as they out played the Edmonton Oilers, 6-3. Dallas not held Edmonton's stars in check, they also received help from one of their own, Tyler Seguin. Coming into Wednesday's Game 1 matchup, Seguin was riding an 11-game scoreless streak that he broke with a pair en route to victory.
While the Stars did his the numbers in the box score, it was what they did, and didn't do that came back to hurt them. Their last two losses have been full of poor possessions, and a consistent physical game. Where else the Stars have fallen short has been in protecting their net. One could easily see in any of the last nine goals Dallas has given up that they have allowed easy penetration into the slot, and have made the crease a very accessible area for the Oilers.
Three Special Teams Takeaways From Stars 6-3 Game One Win The
Dallas Stars came roaring back from a 3-1 deficit with five third period goals en route to a 6-3 win in Game 1 of the Western Conference Final against the Edmonton Oilers.
If Dallas hopes to get back in the series, they will also need to establish who they feel should be the prime scorer. While Mikko Rantanen has put up phenomenal numbers in the playoffs, the Finnish forward has cooled off in recent games. Jason Robertson was the top scorer during the regular season, but has largely been a non factor throughout the postseason. While injury is a large reasoning for that, the playoffs or where a team needs their top scorers to come up big.
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New York Times
32 minutes ago
- New York Times
The Oilers' nuclear option: Do they keep Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl together?
EDMONTON — To be clear, there is no wrong answer. But it's been the eternal debate in these parts going back several years and several Edmonton Oilers coaching staffs: Do you load up Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on one line or keep them apart to spread out the offense? Yes and yes. Or perhaps more succinctly, it depends. Advertisement 'They like playing together, but the team needs them split up,' former Oilers head coach Ken Hitchcock told The Athletic on Thursday. 'But when it's crunch time and there needs to be a change in the way the game is being played and you put those two guys together, it makes all kinds of sense. Playing them apart balances everything, but they are almost unstoppable when they are together.'' So, yes and yes. 'It is a great tool to use as a momentum-changer, matchup-breaker or, as a coach would say, 'tilt the ice in our favor,'' former Oilers head coach Dave Tippett told The Athletic. 'They are both very smart players who love playing together but also recognize the advantages to the team when they are apart. The debate shouldn't be, 'Should they play together or apart?' It is, 'What is the best situation for the team to win at any point in the game?'' Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch inherited this wonderful dilemma when he took over as head coach in November of 2023, and he's felt his way through it. On Wednesday night, down in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final to the Florida Panthers, he chose the nuclear option. And it absolutely changed the momentum and tilted the ice. But it's not something he's tried to overuse. 'I've done it throughout the playoffs, mid-game or third period — they have just gone off and scored at a tremendous rate,' the Oilers head coach said Thursday when I asked him about it. 'A couple of big games in the L.A. series. There's also games where they've started together and played well but haven't scored like you would expect. I don't know. I think it's important when Leon is playing center. It spreads out our scoring a little bit and also gets him in the game a little bit more. He's skating and involved. 'It allows the rest of our team (to know) that they've got a role. They've got to play well, and we're not just relying on this one line that's going to do all the work. Yeah, I don't know. It's nice to know when those two get together mid-game that the results are pretty good. But it's something that we can't rely on.' Advertisement That is why I would expect 97 and 29 to be split up when Game 2 starts Friday night. But there's always the break-the-glass option to reunite them. 'Kris seems to spread the workload a little more,' a Western Conference head coach, who requested anonymity, said Thursday when I asked him about the nuclear option. 'What I've noticed is that when they separate them, they get more from the wingers. I always find (Ryan) Nugent-Hopkins a better player with McDavid than if he has to drive his own line. It's the same with (Kasperi) Kapanen. He wasn't even in the lineup, but when he's playing with Draisaitl, that's the end-result benefit of spreading the two big guys. 'The product of their top two lines when they're apart is better than when they're together on one line. But I mean, obviously when they're together, it's a huge challenge.' And perhaps part of the reason the Oilers get immediate results when they do it mid-game is that it also can catch opponents off-guard and force them to react. Consider this from The Athletic's analytics expert Dom Luszczyszyn: 'In these playoffs, the Oilers have paired their two superstars on 17 percent of five-on-five shifts — a marked shift from last year's playoffs, where they only shared the ice 10 percent of the time. There are two key reasons for that, both of which rely on trust. 'The first is the team trusting its depth to contribute offensively without risking the puck going the other way. Over their previous three playoffs, according to Natural Stat Trick, the Oilers without McDavid and Draisaitl on the ice generated only 2.2 expected goals per 60 minutes and scored even fewer: 1.7. This year, both are way up: 2.7 expected goals per 60 and 3.0 goals per 60. The depth is delivering when it counts, leading to 66 percent of the goals. Over the past three playoffs, they were at 41 percent. Advertisement 'The second is the team trusting its franchise stars to shut things down defensively. Not that it was a problem for the Oilers over the last few years, but the shift in their chance suppression is something to behold. 'When McDavid and Draisaitl are on the ice together, they're generating the same 3.9 expected goals per 60 minutes as usual, but their expected goals against rate has dropped considerably, from 2.7 over the past three playoffs to 2.1 this year. For further context, that's the exact amount Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart — this year's first- and second-place Selke finalists — have allowed for Florida during the playoffs this year and last. 'If defense wins championships, McDavid and Draisaitl got the memo.' Case in point: With the Oilers nursing a lead going into the third period of Game 3 versus Dallas in the Western Conference final, Knoblauch chose to load up McDavid and Draisaitl, obviously not looking for offense as much as puck possession and to spend less time in their own zone after being caved in by Dallas in the second period. It worked swimmingly as the Oilers shut down the Stars en route to another win. Panthers head coach Paul Maurice has coached against it many times, so he's ready when it happens. 'Well, at some point, because they're together, you have a better indicator of when they're coming off the bench,' he said Thursday. 'It's slightly more of a challenge on the road. So you need to have more than one line (to match up) against them. So the third goal (from Mattias Ekholm, set up by McDavid in Game 1), it was the end of the shift and into the next shift, so you need to have more than one line coming off the bench. Other than that, you just have to go out and play.'' Easier said than done, of course. Consider this last little nugget from Dom regarding 97 and 29 together in Game 1: 'Barkov and Reinhart played 8:01 against McDavid and Draisaitl. Shot attempts were 14-4 Edmonton during that, expected goals were 0.42-0.14 Edmonton per 60 minutes (3-1 Edmonton, basically).'' Advertisement So, yeah. 'They play incredibly well together,' Oilers winger Evander Kane said Thursday. 'They read off each other well. They have different skill sets that elevate their skill sets together. At certain times in the game, the coaching staff likes to go to that. It's on the rest of the group to step up and contribute as well when you don't have them going 1-2 down the middle. I thought we did a good job of that in the latter half of the game.'' That's the biggest difference: that the drop-off isn't as dramatic as in years past. There's depth now to hold the fort when the load-up scenario is in play. The reality is that when the younger Oilers were doing it when Hitchcock was behind the bench, it was a thinner squad. 'Yeah, well, for me, they were the best two players and it was just survival when I was doing it,' Hitchcock chuckled. 'We needed that element in our game. Whereas now, they've got guys that can really bring it and are good players. They can afford to spread it out a little bit more and have more offense.'' Load them up or not? Here and there. That's the way. (Top photo of Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)
San Francisco Chronicle
an hour ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Panthers look to even the Stanley Cup Final against the Oilers in Game 2
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Trailing the Stanley Cup Final after losing the opener in overtime, the defending champion Florida Panthers look to even things up in Game 2 at the Edmonton Oilers on Friday night. Winning on the road has not been a problem for them so far, going 8-3 away from home, the third loss coming Wednesday on Leon Draisatl's power-play goal following a puck-over-the-glass penalty on Tomas Nosek. The task of going into a packed, loud arena is just another challenge the Panthers are embracing. 'It's that 'us against the world' mindset, but you really feel it especially being down in a series,' winger Matthew Tkachuk said. 'Us against the 20-plus guys you're playing against, the 20,000 that are in the rink, the 20,000 that are outside the rink. It's just us against everybody. That's what makes playing on the road so fun and rewarding when you can get a win.' If they do, it will wrestle home-ice advantage away from the Oilers with play shifting to Sunrise for Games 3 and 4 next week. One of the toughest parts of being on the road is trying to defend Draisaitl and Connor McDavid when they're on the ice together. Coach Kris Knoblauch did that some late in Game 1, and it's difficult for Paul Maurice to counter without the last line change to control matchups. 'When they play together, they're obviously very creative players and they'll make everyone around them better,' Florida defenseman Seth Jones said. 'They like to look for each other, especially when they play together, little give-and-goes, things like that, and then they're dangerous off the rush, too. Whether they're playing together or apart, it's a five-man unit defending.' The Oilers remain without Zach Hyman, out for the remainder of the playoffs after his right wrist got dislocated on a hit during the last round. The Panthers could be close to full strength if A.J. Greer can return, and Maurice said fourth-liner Jonah Gadjovich is good to go after missing part of Game 1. ___
Fox Sports
an hour ago
- Fox Sports
Panthers look to even the Stanley Cup Final against the Oilers in Game 2
Associated Press EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Trailing the Stanley Cup Final after losing the opener in overtime, the defending champion Florida Panthers look to even things up in Game 2 at the Edmonton Oilers on Friday night. Winning on the road has not been a problem for them so far, going 8-3 away from home, the third loss coming Wednesday on Leon Draisatl's power-play goal following a puck-over-the-glass penalty on Tomas Nosek. The task of going into a packed, loud arena is just another challenge the Panthers are embracing. 'It's that 'us against the world' mindset, but you really feel it especially being down in a series,' winger Matthew Tkachuk said. 'Us against the 20-plus guys you're playing against, the 20,000 that are in the rink, the 20,000 that are outside the rink. It's just us against everybody. That's what makes playing on the road so fun and rewarding when you can get a win.' If they do, it will wrestle home-ice advantage away from the Oilers with play shifting to Sunrise for Games 3 and 4 next week. One of the toughest parts of being on the road is trying to defend Draisaitl and Connor McDavid when they're on the ice together. Coach Kris Knoblauch did that some late in Game 1, and it's difficult for Paul Maurice to counter without the last line change to control matchups. 'When they play together, they're obviously very creative players and they'll make everyone around them better,' Florida defenseman Seth Jones said. 'They like to look for each other, especially when they play together, little give-and-goes, things like that, and then they're dangerous off the rush, too. Whether they're playing together or apart, it's a five-man unit defending.' The Oilers remain without Zach Hyman, out for the remainder of the playoffs after his right wrist got dislocated on a hit during the last round. The Panthers could be close to full strength if A.J. Greer can return, and Maurice said fourth-liner Jonah Gadjovich is good to go after missing part of Game 1. ___ AP NHL playoffs: and recommended
