Stars hit break on high note, roll over Oilers

The Dallas Stars headed into their bye week the way they wanted, securing a big two points with a solid 5-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday afternoon at American Airlines Center.
"Great team win," said Stars defenseman John Klingberg. "This is how we wanted to play the last game before the bye week, so that was perfect."

WATCH: [All Stars vs. Oilers highlights]
The Stars (24-16-3) hit their break on a nice run. They've won four of their last five (4-1-0) and six of the last eight (6-2-0). The Stars, who are 15-7-2 over their last 24 games, currently sit in the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference and are within striking distance of a top three spot in the Central Division.
"We're in a playoff spot, so I guess that is a good thing," said Stars captain Jamie Benn. "It's been a consistent message in our dressing room that we want to get better each and every day and chase down those teams in front of us."
The Stars jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period Saturday after coach Ken Hitchcock moved Alexander Radulov to the line with Benn and Tyler Seguin just under six minutes into the game and that line produced three quick goals, one by each player.

"I felt with the way the rotations of the lines were going it would be a better matchup if I put Rads there," said Hitchcock. I felt that he had a feel for the game and I needed to get him out there as much as I could, early and often."
Radulov, Seguin and John Klingberg all had three-point games for the Stars, each registering one goal and two assists. Benn and Mattias Janmark also scored, and Ben Bishop stopped 37 shots as the Stars entered a stretch that will see them go six days without playing a game.
"The whole team played good," said Radulov. "Good structured game. Everybody, Bish, the defense played a good game, and we deserved to win. We need those points, and now we get a little break, get some rest."
Leon Draisaitl scored the lone goal for the Oilers, who lost for the fifth time in the last six games (1-4-1) and fell to 18-21-3 on the season. The Oilers have scored just two goals in the last four games.
"I don't think it's a lack of effort," Oilers captain Connor McDavid said of the team's scoring woes. "We've created our chances, and I've said that all along through this kind of stretch. We've created our chances, but we just have to bear down. Even tonight, we had a few rebounds sitting there and plays in and around the net that we have to bear down, but give them credit. They did a great job defending tonight."

Hitchcock moved Radulov to the line with Benn and Seguin in the first period, and that trio rattled off three goals in a 6:11 span to give the Stars a 3-0 lead. Klingberg set up the first goal, sending a long pass to Seguin, who fed the puck to Radulov, who scored on the rush at the 10:21 mark to give the Stars a 1-0 lead.
That line extended it to 2-0 at the 12:54 mark when Radulov backhanded the puck across the ice to Benn, who tapped the puck in from close range.
And that trio struck again at 16:32 to push the lead to 3-0. Radulov passed the puck from the goal line into the blue paint, and Seguin directed it into the net.
"We didn't have an answer for that line," said Oilers coach Todd McLellan. "They scored just about every way they could except for on the power play, and they created a lot of havoc for us on our end and scored on a lot of lateral plays from the corner to the net fronts. We were poor in that area."
The Stars extended the lead to 4-0 in the second period when Janmark's centering pass went into the net off Oilers defenseman Andre Sekera at 4:27 of the second. That ended the night for Oilers goalie Cam Talbot who was replaced by Al Montoya.

The Oilers got on the board early in the third with a power-play goal by Draisaitl, who scored from the right circle at the 2:04 mark to make it a 4-1 game.
The Stars extended the lead to 5-1 midway through the third when Klingberg made a nice breakout pass and then joined the rush, took a pass from Seguin and scored from the right circle at the 10:04 mark.
And it stayed a 5-1 game until the final horn, sending the Stars into their bye week on a high note.
"Big game from the team," said Klingberg.
"We did everything we could now, and it will be nice to have a break and come back ready to play a lot of hockey."

Methot a late scratch with sore knee

Stars defenseman Marc Methot was a late scratch Saturday with a sore knee. Methot took warm-ups and skated with Stephen Johns on the third defense pair but was held out of the game due to the knee.
"His knee was sore late yesterday, and it was no better this morning, so we just opted to pull him out," said coach Ken Hitchcock. "We don't want to risk one hockey game today and not have him when we come back, so we pulled him out. He'll be fine for the next game."
Methot had just returned to the lineup Thursday after missing 26 games with a knee injury that required arthroscopic surgery.

Notes

What's Next

The Stars now enter their bye week and won't play for the next six days. Their next game is Saturday, Dec. 13 when they take on Colorado at American Airlines Center.

Stars Lineup

Jamie Benn - Tyler Seguin - Brett Ritchie
Mattias Janmark - Jason Spezza - Alexander Radulov
Antoine Roussel - Radek Faksa - Tyler Pitlick
Remi Elie - Martin Hanzal - Devin Shore
Esa Lindell - John Klingberg
Dan Hamhuis - Greg Pateryn
Stephen Johns - Julius Honka
Ben Bishop
Kari Lehtonen
Scratched:Gemel Smith
Injured: Marc Methot (knee)

Mark Stepneski is an independent writer whose posts on DallasStars.com reflect his own opinions and do not represent official statements from the Dallas Stars. You can follow Mark on Twitter at @StarsInsideEdge.