Oilers score seven, stop three-game losing streak

EDMONTON -- Benoit Pouliot ended a 28-game goalless streak for the Edmonton Oilers in a 7-1 win against the Dallas Stars at Rogers Place on Tuesday.
Seven players scored and four had two points each to help the Oilers end a three-game losing streak (0-2-1).

WATCH: All Stars vs. Oilers highlights
"For sure, it feels good. It's been a while and, hopefully, I get something going with it," Pouliot said. "It's a big win for us, to win 7-1 like that it's nice for everyone and we just want to keep it going."

Pouliot scored for the first time since Dec. 8 at 12:12 of the first period for a 1-0 lead.
Oscar Klefbom, Darnell Nurse, David Desharnais, Pat Maroon, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Connor McDavid also scored for Edmonton (36-24-9) and Cam Talbot made 22 saves. Milan Lucic, Leon Draisaitl and Zack Kassian each had two assists.
"I think it's definitely nice to score a bunch of goals, but for us, it's more important that we were able to shut them down," Draisaitl said. "They're very capable of scoring a lot of goals and I thought we did a good job tonight of shutting them down and not giving them too many chances. I thought it was a pretty solid effort."
Brett Ritchie scored for Dallas (27-32-10). Antti Niemi gave up five goals on 20 shots before being pulled at 11:29 of the second period. Kari Lehtonen gave up two goals on nine shots.
"That might be the worst game I have coached as a Dallas Star. We need a lot more from the leaders of our team," coach Lindy Ruff said. "They are the guys who can make the difference at this time. We have had some tough breaks, but they are the guys the responsibility lies on."
Klefbom gave the Oilers a 2-0 lead on the power play at 18:01. Nurse put Edmonton up 3-0 at 2:06 of the second period, beating Niemi with a low shot off a rush down the left wing.

"As soon as the third one went in our team went dead," Ruff said. "This time of year and knowing where we are at, all you can try to do is go out there and win your shift."
Ritchie made it 3-1 at 5:42, finishing off a nice passing play by Adam Cracknell and Curtis McKenzie on a rush up the middle.
Desharnais made it 4-1 at 9:30, taking a long bounce off the end boards off a shot from Anton Slepyshev and shoveling the puck past Niemi. Maroon put the Oilers up 5-1 at 11:29.
"All in all, a good game," Maroon said. "We did some good things and some confidence will build. [Pouliot] got a huge goal, and he needed that. He's been working hard all year, he deserves that goal. Nurse got on the board tonight. [Desharnais'] line was really good tonight. It's all good to see."
Nugent-Hopkins scored at 12:17 of the third period when a centering pass bounced in off his skate. McDavid scored at 14:00, converting a pass from Maroon on a 2-on-1 rush.
"It's embarrassing," Stars forward Patrick Sharp said. "I'm embarrassed and I'd like to think my teammates are embarrassed as well. Hopefully we can be a lot better on the rest of this trip."

Goal of the game

Maroon dragged the puck around defenseman Dan Hamhuis and scored on a backhand.

Save of the game

Talbot made an excellent pad save on Stars defenseman Stephen Johns at 14:13 of the second period.

Unsung performance of the game

Nurse played a game-high 21:16 and helped fill in for Klefbom, who left temporarily in the second period after taking a shot off his neck. Nurse also had three shots on goal, two hits, blocked two shots and was plus-4.

Highlight of the game

Pouliot's streak ended when he took a pass at the top of the right faceoff circle and sent a hard shot that sailed past a screened Niemi.

They said it

"I've never been in this situation before. I thought we kind of hit rock bottom the last game [5-1 loss at San Jose], but we went deeper tonight. We are going to have to find some pride here and play for each other more and work harder or it is going to be a long couple of weeks." -- Stars forward Tyler Seguin
"Sometimes, especially right now at this time of the year, it doesn't matter who scores. It's about the win, about the two points, and we're very happy we got them."-- Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl
"I think I've been shooting the puck a little bit more since I've come back and I just want to get the feel again and be in the right position to get that puck and release that shot." -- Oilers forward Benoit Pouliot on his third game back from an upper-body injury

Need to know

Desharnais has two goals and an assist in five games since he was acquired from the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for defenseman Brandon Davidson on Feb. 28. … The seven goals matched a season high for the Oilers. They defeated the Calgary Flames 7-4 in their first game of the season on Oct. 12 and beat the Flames 7-3 on Jan. 21.

What's next

Stars: At the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; SNP, FS-SW, NHL.TV)
Oilers:Home against the Boston Bruins on Thursday (9 p.m. ET; SNW, NESN, NHL.TV)