Kari Lehtonen makes 40 saves, Stars defeat Oilers

EDMONTON -- Kari Lehtonen made 40 saves to help the Dallas Stars to a 3-2 win against the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place on Friday.
Patrick Eaves had a goal and an assist for Dallas (6-6-3), and Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn each had two assists.
Seguin set up Antoine Roussel's game-winning goal at 15:00 of the second period, and the Stars held on from there.

WATCH: All Stars vs. Oilers highlights
"I thought we played our best defensive game," Dallas coach Lindy Ruff said. "We knew how dangerous [Connor] McDavid was going to be and we tried to pay special attention to him and make sure we limited his inside opportunities. We gave him some outside time, but we didn't give him much inside time. We just knew if we gave him some space he could create some havoc, and I though our guys probably played the best defensive game of the year for us."
The Stars have won two games in a row for the first time this season.
"I haven't played back-to-backs in a long time, so that was a nice challenge," said Lehtonen, who had 29 saves in a 4-2 win at the Calgary Flames on Thursday. "And it was fun to get lots of action too; it kept me in the game easily the whole time. I was excited, especially getting to see this building and getting to play here the first time. That's always lots of fun against a team that is so skilled and so fast; it's a big challenge for a goalie always."
Pat Maroon and Tyler Pitlick scored for the Oilers (9-5-1), and Cam Talbot made 27 saves.

"We battled hard," said McDavid, who has a three-game point streak after his assist on Maroon's goal. "They kind of trapped it up and played that defensive game, which you have to expect with them playing back-to-back games. They did a good job at trapping up the middle and not allowing us to get speed. We did a good job, but ultimately, we've got to find a way to win a game like that. It's just not good enough coming close."
The teams combined for four goals in the first period.
Former Edmonton forward Lauri Korpikoski gave Dallas a 1-0 lead when he scored 28 seconds in on the game's first shot on goal. Maroon tied it 1-1 at 3:37 when he scored on a rebound from in front of the net.
Eaves put the Stars up 2-1 on the power play at 4:51, tipping a point shot from Seguin between Talbot's pads.
"We're always playing from behind," McDavid said. "We're putting ourselves behind the eight-ball and we have to figure out a way to have better starts."
Pitlick tied it 2-2 with 28.4 seconds left in the first period on an excellent individual effort.
The Oilers had several quality chances to tie the game in the third period but couldn't beat Lehtonen. He made a tough save on Milan Lucic with 6:45 left, and then stopped McDavid with 1:26 remaining on a shot from the slot.
"Give Dallas credit, but the other way, a sleepy team and we weren't ready to go right off the bat," Edmonton coach Todd McLellan said. "We did a lot of watching and then reacting instead of participating."

Goal of the game

Pitlick intercepted a clearing attempt along the boards, took the puck to the net, and lifted a backhand shot over Lehtonen to tie the game late in the first period.

Save of the game

At 16:01 of the second period, Lehtonen made an outstanding glove save on Anton Slepyshev's one-timer from the bottom of the left faceoff circle off Mark Letestu's pass from behind the net to keep Dallas up 3-2.

Unsung moment of the game

Oilers center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins caught Seguin from behind to break up a scoring opportunity at 8:03 of the second period after the Stars center took a pass in the slot and had an open lane to the net.

Highlight of the game

Seguin set up Roussel's game-winner with a pass between Maroon and Oilers defenseman Oscar Klefbom. Roussel, who got behind Jordan Eberle and was streaking to the net, put a backhand up over Talbot.

They said it

"The way we've been defending the last two games, that can get you pretty far in this league and win hockey games. It starts in our end, and good things have been happening. We want to keep it going." -- Stars center Tyler Seguin
"It's definitely a game that you have to capitalize. When a team is on the second game of a back-to-back, you know their legs are going to be tired, especially at the end of the game." -- Oilers center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins

"We got caught a little dopey. I don't think we were quite ready for the pressure that was going to come. The first shot seems to be going in. It's something we're obviously trying to address." -- Oilers defenseman Eric Gryba

Need to know

Maroon scored his fourth goal in his fifth game playing on the Oilers' top line with McDavid and Eberle. … Nugent-Hopkins had a game-high seven shots. … Seguin extended his point streak to four games. He has two goals and seven assists in his past five games.

What's next

Stars: At the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday (4 p.m. ET; SNP, FS-SW, NHL.TV)

Oilers:Home against the New York Rangers on Sunday (9:30 p.m. ET; SN1, MSG, NHL.TV)