Oilers unable to overcome special teams struggles in Game 1 loss to Stars

DALLAS -- The inability to kill a penalty in the third period cost the Edmonton Oilers against the Dallas Stars in Game 1 of the Western Conference Final on Wednesday.

Edmonton went from being in control of the game, up two goals, to chasing it, after giving up three power-play goals in the span of 5:26 in the third period of a 6-3 loss at the American Airlines Center.

Game 2 of the best-of-7 series is here on Friday (8 p.m. ET; ESPN+, ESPN, SN, TVAS, CBC).

“Obviously we let down our guard for five or six minutes and got into some penalty trouble,” Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner said. “They were coming out hot, momentum kind of shifted for them in that moment, and obviously it bit us. It’s up to us to learn from, myself included obviously, and we have to get better from it.”

Heading into the third period, Edmonton was in a comfortable position.

It had built a 3-1 lead, looking dominant at times, and came within a crossbar of making it a three-goal lead on a shot from Darnell Nurse.

Yet, it started to unravel when Oilers defenseman Brett Kulak took a hooking penalty on Stars forward Mason Marchment with 1:02 left in the second period.

Edmonton was able to kill the first half of the power play at the end of the period but gave up a goal 32 seconds into the third on a point shot from defenseman Miro Heiskanen that found its way through traffic past Skinner to cut the deficit to 3-2.

Dallas scored again on the power play to tie it 3:17 later when Mikael Granlund fired a shot into the roof of the net from the right face-off circle with Oilers forward Corey Perry in the penalty box for high-sticking in the offensive zone on Stars forward Sam Steel.

The Stars went ahead 4-3 on a power-play goal from Matt Duchene 2:09 later when he found the puck on a scramble to the left of the net and lifted it past Skinner. The goal came 11 seconds after Oilers forward Evander Kane was sent to the penalty box for a high stick on Duchene.

It was the first time the Oilers have allowed three power-play goals in a period of a playoff game since Game 2 of the 1992 Smythe Division Final against the Vancouver Canucks.

“It’s a tough pill to swallow,” Skinner said of the three-goal stretch. “You just can’t be doing that, especially at playoff time, especially against a team like this, they know how to score goals. They are mature team, and I know we have it in us as well; we’ve done it many, many times and we’ll let it sit for a little bit, and we’ll get back at it for sure.”

Last season, the Oilers had the best penalty kill in the playoffs, giving up just four power-play goals on 70 opportunities (94.3 percent), and rode it all the way to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, where they lost 2-1 to the Florida Panthers.

This year, however, the penalty kill has given up 14 goals on 37 opportunities (62.2 percent), ranking 15th out of the 16 playoff teams and worst among those remaining.

“We have to kill better, it’s as simple as that,” Nurse said. “They have a good power play, but when we’re playing the way we can, and we’ve shown it in the playoffs, our penalty kill can be very good, too. We have to be better in that department, all of us, to a man.”

Edmonton is missing defenseman Mattias Ekholm, who was a big factor in its success last season, and the Oilers hope to get the 34-year-old back from an undisclosed injury at some point in the series.

But until then, giving up multiple goals on the power play is going to make it difficult to get past Dallas for the second consecutive season at this stage of the playoffs.

“Whether it’s a battle, a clear or a block, whatever play has to be made on the PK, we have to make it,” Nurse said. “And we didn’t do that enough tonight.”

Edmonton did end a 0-for-14 drought on the road on its own power play with a goal from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins at 6:08 of the first period to take a 2-1 lead but could not build on it. The Oilers finished 1-for-3 with the man-advantage.

“Going into the series, we knew special teams was going to be a big part of it,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “Tonight, with them getting three in the third period, obviously that changes things. Even after they got the first one, you could see our guys, they felt really good before and then they took a step back. We had to keep pushing and maintain that offensive-zone time that we had earlier in the game and still be assertive.”

Dallas extended its 4-3 lead in the third when forward Tyler Seguin scored his second goal of the game at 16:02 after a rebound on a backhand shot from Steel hit him in front of the net and bounced in past Skinner.

Defenseman Esa Lindell scored into an empty net at 16:45 with Skinner on the bench for an extra attacker for the 6-3 final.

“The game got away from us through the kill and then our power play, when you have a chance to tie it, wasn’t much better,” Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl said. “We have to look at it and correct it.”