GAME RECAP: Stars 5, Oilers 0

DALLAS, TX – Dallas netminder Jake Oettinger made 35 saves to record his second straight shutout and put an end to his three-game losing streak against the Oilers, who were defeated 5-0 by the Stars at American Airlines Center on Wednesday.

The Stars scored four goals in a 5:48 span of the second period and received steady goaltending from Oettinger throughout the whole evening to record their franchise-record eighth win in a row and improve their record to 48-19-19 on the season – good enough for first place the Central Division with 105 points.

"A lot of credit to the Dallas Stars, they're playing really good hockey," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "They're a really good team, and you can see why they're leading the Western Conference right now and playing well.

"For us to come in here was a challenge, and we came up short. We thought it was a good test to see how good we are, and we still have some work to do to catch up to them."

Forward Radek Faksa recorded a goal and two assists and Sam Steel, Wyatt Johnston and Craig Smith each recorded two points in the shutout victory that leaves Edmonton seven points back of Vancouver with eight games remaining in the regular season, including one game in hand on the Canucks and a head-to-head matchup still to come.

Calvin Pickard was handed the defeat after making 27 saves on 32 shots, while Connor McDavid (eight games) and Mattias Ekholm (five games) each had their personal point streaks snapped in the loss.

The Oilers look to regroup ahead of Friday's contest at Rogers Place against another tough Central Division opponent in the Colorado Avalanche.

FIRST PERIOD

The Oilers controlled much of what was a high-action first period on Wednesday, recording eight of the first 10 shots taken and outshooting the Stars 16-10 over the opening 20 minutes, but they weren't able to wrestle a lead in the Lone Star State.

The Stars went up early off a turnover at the Oilers blueline created by Sherwood Park product Sam Steel against Leon Draisaitl, leading to a quick rush the other way that was put home by Radek Faksa on a shot that snuck through Calvin Pickard for his seventh of the season and a 1-0 Stars lead just over two minutes into the contest.

For the Oilers, became a theme of the game when Cody Ceci levelled the post with a slap shot not long after Faksa's first before Corey Perry struck iron on a hard wrist shot later in the period. Despite hitting the post twice, netminder Jake Oettinger was there to make the save when it was on net and was looking sharp early for the Stars. The Dallas netminder came into Wednesday having won his last five starts in a row, but was winless in his last three games against Edmonton.

"In the first period, I thought we had a lot of good chances to score. I think it's a different game if those go in," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "I know three posts, two in the first period and one early in the second period, that would make a big difference. But I think our defensive details, whether it's getting beat up by the ice when they're breaking the puck out or us just swinging for pucks in the defensive zone, make us too easy to play against."

SECOND PERIOD

After Draisaitl struck the post on a power play in the first five minutes of the middle frame, it would continue to be a frustrating period for the Oilers.

Steel was having an impactful night already for the Stars with an assist in the first period before he took out Mattias Ekholm near the penalty boxes and drew a follow-up interference call from the Swede to send Dallas to a power play with seven-and-a-half minutes remaining in the period.

Miro Heiskanen made a great move down low to fire a pass across to Tyler Seguin, who buried the Finnish blueliner's feed to make it 2-0 on the man advantage that set off a four-goal stretch for the Stars over the final 6:44 of the stanza.

"I thought were skating well and created a lot of chances, and then they get that second one and we completely go off script and that's just not our game," Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said. "That's not how we're going to win at any point in the season, especially with nine games left against one of the best teams in the League."

"We let the second one in and after that, it seemed like we just wanted to go on our own and try sauce passes right through our own slot and we just got away from our game," Mattias Ekholm added.

Wyatt Johnston was then fortunate to come out of the box and jump into a four-on-one rush that the 20-year-old would finish off to reach 30 goals for the first time in his career, extending the Dallas advantage to 3-0.

Jamie Benn made it a four-goal game with a redirection off Logan Stankoven's low pass that started with a pick-off by Johnston in the offensive zone as the Dallas captain pulled himself to within one goal of becoming the eighth player on the Stars roster this season to have 20 goals.

To make matters worse for the Oilers before the intermission, Steel found a goal just 22 seconds later to add to his impressive night when he rounded Pickard for an unassisted tally on Dallas' fifth, solidifying a 5-0 lead for the Stars through 40 minutes that would last through regulation.

"I think it was kind of all over the ice," Nugent-Hopkins said of his team's mistakes. "We were getting beat back, four-on-one breakaways, two-on-ones. Talk about leaving Picks out to dry there. At the end of the day, if you keep giving them chances like that, they're going to put some in. So I think it was kind of all over the ice, but it's just managing pucks and getting beat back into high-scoring areas when it comes to the structure."

All three of Steel and Johnston had a goal and an assist, Faksa had three points in the first two periods, while Oettinger stopped all 28 shots for the Stars to help build the Central Division leaders their large lead.

THIRD PERIOD

The Oilers fired nine more shots toward Oettinger, but the writing had been on the wall since the middle frame.

Edmonton couldn't convert on a power play in the third period either, falling to 0-for-4 on the night after having a 25.0 percent power-play efficiency in their last seven road games. Time ran out on a 5-0 defeat for the Oilers, dropping them to their sixth loss on the road in their last seven games since going on a four-game road win streak.

"You try to stay positive and not dwell on what just happened. But at the same time, you can't go out and keep repeating the same mistakes," Nugent-Hopkins said.

"So the positivity only goes so far. I think that stretch of 5-to-10 minutes of just giving the puck back to them and letting their momentum just kind of take complete control of the game, we have to be able to stop that. We're a mature enough team to be able to stop that. We know we have it in here, but it wasn't there tonight."