The boxscore will show that Mason Marchment’s third-period goal was the difference in the Dallas Stars’ 3-1 victory over the visiting Edmonton Oilers on Saturday to even their Western Conference final series.
But Dallas goaltender Jake Oettinger’s 15-save first-period performance kept the score tied at 1-1 before the Stars pulled away late to even the best-of-seven series at one win apiece. The series moves to Edmonton for Game 3 on Monday.
“I don’t think we were good enough in the first,” Marchment said. “Jakey stood on his head and made some massive saves and allowed us to get our feet wet. After that, we kinda took over and started playing our game.”
With overtime for a second consecutive game a real possibility, Marchment — whose father, Bryan, spent four seasons with the Oilers in the 1990s — deflected Ryan Suter’s point shot at 3:41 of the final frame.
“It feels good,” said Marchment, who netted his second goal of the playoffs. “There’s not many better feelings than scoring in a playoff game. We’ll take that one.”
For his part, Oettinger was puzzled about receiving accolades.
“You’d rather be getting work than just sitting there then all of a sudden you’re getting two-on-ones and breakaways,” he said. “Those are even harder.”
Dallas captain Jamie Benn netted one goal and one assist, and Esa Lindell’s late empty-net goal sealed the victory. Oettinger finished with 28 stops.
Connor Brown scored for the Oilers, who received a 22-save performance from goalie Stuart Skinner. Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl saw his postseason point streak end at 13 games. He had recorded at least one point in every game during this year’s playoff run.
Benn opened the scoring with Dallas’s first shot at 3:29 for his fourth goal of the postseason, but Brown replied 44 seconds later with his first of the playoffs.
From there, it was a defensive battle with both goalies standing tall until Marchment netted the eventual winning marker.
“We had our looks and it’s just a matter of bearing down,” Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm said. “We’ve got to keep getting in there, keep getting our nose in the paint and we’re gonna get a tip at some point. We’re playing well enough to win, but we still do have a level to our game.”
The Oilers host the next two games, and have home-ice advantage after earning a split in Dallas.
“I guess that’s a positive,” said Connor McDavid, who was held off the scoresheet. “You never like to lose and we had a big opportunity, and we needed to capitalize.”
Though McDavid was not able to take solace in the Oilers winning the series opener, some of his teammates remained positive.
“Any time you can start on the road and come back with a split, that’s a good thing,” Brown said. “It doesn’t feel good after a loss, but we did a good job coming in here and getting a win.
“At this point in the year, we understand the process we’ve got to play to and the game plan we’ve got to stick to, patient, defensive hockey, and it’s just getting to it and executing it,” Brown added. “We’re excited to play at home.”
The Oilers have a 4-2 home record during this year’s playoffs and Dallas has won five of six road games.
–Field Level Media
