Benn gets 400th NHL goal, Stars score 8 in win against Oilers

EDMONTON -- Jamie Benn scored his 400th NHL goal, and the Dallas Stars defeated the Edmonton Oilers 8-3 at Rogers Place on Tuesday.

Nathan Bastian had two goals, Wyatt Johnston had a goal and three assists, and Jake Oettinger made 22 saves for the Stars (14-5-4), who have won seven of their past nine games.

Jason Robertson also scored to extend his goal streak to seven games (11 goals), the longest since the franchise relocated to Dallas in 1993, and added two assists.

Dallas was without forward Mikko Rantanen, who was serving a one-game suspension due to game misconducts for boarding in back-to-back games.

“I thought we got off to a good start, I thought ‘Johnny’ and ‘Benny’ and ‘Steeler’ (Sam Steel) were very good to start the game and got us off on a good one, got the first one,” said Stars coach Glen Gulutzan, who returned to Edmonton for the first time since spending the past seven seasons as an Oilers assistant coach. “And then I can’t remember if it was 2-0, or 3-0, then our power play ignited a little bit, which is good.”

Evan Bouchard, Jack Roslovic and Connor Clattenburg scored for the Oilers (10-10-5), who have lost four of their past five (1-3-1).

“I don’t really have an answer right now. It’s just really, start to finish, not good enough,” said Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl. “It’s very concerning. Everything is very concerning. We’re nearly 30 games in and still don’t seem to have it down or know what we are.

“I don’t really know what to say, it’s just not good enough right now."

Stuart Skinner allowed four goals on eight shots in the first period before Calvin Pickard took over in goal to start the second period and made 18 saves.

“I really feel like goaltending is a team thing,” said Oilers captain Connor McDavid. “It’s tough for goalies to look good when the group in front of them is not playing well. I don’t really care who it is, when the team in front of them is not playing up to their standards, then it is tough for a goalie to look good. I felt bad for both of them.

“We’ve still got lots of confidence. I know it doesn’t seem like it, but there’s still an overarching belief that we’ll figure it out. Obviously, doesn’t look that way now, but at least I still feel it."

Benn put the Stars ahead 1-0 at 3:48 of the first period, after Johnston dug the puck out behind the net before sending him a cross-crease pass for the putaway with his first goal of the season.

The Dallas captain was playing in his fourth game of the season after missing the first 19 games after sustaining a collapsed lung in a preseason game. With the goal, Benn became the second player in franchise history to reach the 400-goal milestone, after Mike Modano (557).

“It kind of all came together tonight,” Benn said. “Obviously, our start was great, that’s how we want to start games on the road, especially against good teams like this.

“I know what they’re all about over there, so having a good start goes a long way."

Roope Hintz made it 2-0 on the power play at 10:51, picking up the rebound off a shot by Miro Heiskanen and sending it over Skinner’s right shoulder.

Bastian extended the lead to 3-0 at 15:24, winning a puck battle along the boards in the neutral zone to spring an odd-man rush before cutting into the slot and going top shelf with a wrist shot.

“For guys like me that maybe don’t get as many chances as some of those guys that create a lot of offense, when you do get a chance you have to try and put the puck in a good spot,” Bastian said. “I don’t know when my next 2-on-1 is going to be so I wanted to shoot and it turned.”

He then appeared to score again with 2:24 left in the period, knocking in a puck lobbed toward the crease by Johnston before Skinner could get his glove on it, but it was ruled a high stick.

Steel made it 4-0 at 18:46 after a giveaway by Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm resulted in a 3-on-2 the other way. Johnston sent a cross-crease feed to Benn, whose shot hit the middle of the crossbar and landed on the goal line, where it was tapped in by Steel.

Shots were 8-5 in favor of Dallas after one period.

“Right from the first shift we were flat, we had the puck and make several plays and then we end up getting stuck in there and that first shift was pretty much a precursor to how we played the rest of the game,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “And then we made some mistakes. And there were some bad ones, so I don’t want to put this on our goalies. But there were some crucial mistakes where we left them exposed at the net.”

Clattenburg cut the lead to 4-1 at 4:39 of the second period, collecting the rebound off a point shot by Ty Emberson in the crease and steering the puck around the extended right pad of Oettinger for his first NHL goal in his second game. The 20-year-old was selected in the fifth round (No. 160) of the 2024 NHL Draft.

“I liked his compete, he was rewarded with a goal,” said Knoblauch. “There are a lot of things that I liked about ‘Clatt’s’ game these past two.”

Robertson tipped in a backdoor feed from Tyler Seguin on a 5-on-3 power play at 14:01 of the second period to make it 5-1 and Johnston made it 6-1 just 1:35 later, also on the power play, taking a cross-ice pass from Robertson and then pouncing on his own rebound to score.

“It felt good, obviously nice to beat that team with our history in playoffs the last couple of years,” Johnston said. “It was a big win and we did a lot of great things.”

Bouchard closed it to 6-2 at 1:23 of the third period, taking a pass from behind the Dallas net from Vasily Podkolzin and sending a slap shot from the point, glove side, past Oettinger.

Justin Hryckowian made it 7-2 at 8:21, knocking down a high wrist shot from the point by Mavrik Bourque and putting the puck past Pickard.

Jack Roslovic shrank the lead to 7-3 at 9:31, taking a rebound on a McDavid shot that hit the post and putting the puck through on Oettinger’s glove side.

Bastian pushed it to 8-3 with his second of the game at 15:39 after Pickard made the initial save on a shot by Radek Faksa.

NOTES: Robertson tied Neal Broten (1981-82), Bill Goldsworthy (1970-71), and Dave Gagner (1992-93) for the second longest goal streak in Stars/Minnesota North Stars history, behind Brian Bellows (10 games, 1989-90). He also extended his point streak to eight games (18 points; 11 goals, seven assists). ... The Stars extended their road point streak to nine games (6-0-3), tying for the third longest in franchise history with the 2015-16 and 1998-99 teams that each had a 7-0-2 streak. ... The Stars scored at least three goals in the opening period of a game for the first time this season, while their fourth first-period goal tied the most by one team ... Among players to debut with the Stars, Johnston (101 goals, 101 assists for 202 points in 269 games) became the third-fastest player in team history to record 200 career points behind Robertson (190 games) and Hintz (263 games) ... The Oilers have allowed 21 goals in their last three home games ... After blocking a shot during his 5:25 of ice time across seven shifts, Oilers forward Trent Frederic headed for the dressing room after testing himself out early in the third period. Knoblauch had no update on his condition ... With an assist, Draisaitl pushed his point streak to seven games (11 points; four goals, seven assists).