The Edmonton Oilers won Game 1 in their Western Conference Final series with the Dallas Stars. Connor McDavid was the hero on the first shift in the second overtime, potting a deflection from a board pass by Evan Bouchard. It was McDavid’s make-good after being stopped by Jake Oettinger in the first overtime on a clear wide-open net shot.
The Oilers scored the first goal of the game, as a friendly bounce off Brett Kulak’s shot went to Leon Draisaitl, who was able to score on a yawning cage. Edmonton took a 2-0 lead in the second period, as McDavid and Zach Hyman had a two-on-one rush, with McDavid electing to pass. A broken play saw Hyman collect the puck in the slot, but even as he tried to shoot, a defender’s stick slowed the progress of the puck which fooled Oettinger.
Dallas battled back as Tyler Seguin scored two for the Stars to tie things up. The first came off of a bad turnover from Kulak. The second came in the later moments of the third period. The tieing goal was a deflection off of Darnell Nurse‘s skate.
It Took Double Overtime to Seal It for the Oilers
The game went into overtime, where nothing was solved in the first frame. 17 seconds into overtime, McDavid got a double-minor for high-sticking on a call he didn’t like. “It was long, really long, really, really long. Miserable. I hated every second of it,” he said. He added, “But the guys did an amazing job, truthfully. The penalty kill has been amazing and to step in there and for four minutes against a good power play, I can’t give those guys enough credit.”
Later in the first overtime, McDavid had a great look in front of the net but was stopped by Oettinger and Chris Tanev after waiting just a second too long to shoot. But, McDavid made up for it in the second overtime, scoring the winner off of a great Bouchard pass and a nice forecheck from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
The Game 1 Takeaways for the Oilers
Depth players for the Oilers were perfect on penalty kill and they were tested early and often. The fact they were able to kill the double-minor in overtime was huge. They went 5 for 5.
Stuart Skinner was excellent, making 31 saves. Edmonton struggled to get going early, but played much better in the second and third period. Penalty trouble is what hurt them in the first.
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