The Edmonton Oilers controlled the NHL’s Western Conference final opener until suddenly they didn’t.
The lone Canadian club left in Stanley Cup contention this year was up 3-1 on the Dallas Stars after two periods Wednesday.
The Stars scored three unanswered power-play goals in less than six minutes to start the third and tilt the ice in favour of the hosts.
The Oilers, who were plus-10 in third-period goals this post-season, couldn’t wrest control back after ineffectual penalty kills as the Stars prevailed 6-3.
“We give up three goals in a row on the kill. It just kills the momentum, and then you’re chasing the game,” said Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl, who had a goal and two assists.
“The game changes from there. We’ve got to be an awful lot more mature than that.”
After dropping their first two road games of the playoffs, the Oilers won four in a row away from Rogers Place.
They derailed before they could extend it to five on Wednesday. Game 2 is Friday at American Airlines Center before the best-of-seven series flips to Edmonton starting Sunday.
Edmonton squandered a premier game by Draisaitl, who factored in all three goals, and Connor McDavid, who had two assists and multiple scoring chances as the Stars struggled to contain the captain in the first 40 minutes.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored Edmonton’s first power-play goal on the road in 16 chances for a 2-1 lead in the second period. Defenceman Evan Bouchard’s fifth post-season goal, a minute 42 seconds later, had the visitors up by two.
Edmonton held Dallas without a power-play goal on 14 chances in last year’s conference final, which the Oilers won in six games en route to the Cup final.
But Dallas perforated this edition’s penalty kill early and often in Wednesday’s third period by getting bodies to the net to provide traffic and screens.
A Brett Kulak hooking penalty late in the second carried over to the third when Miro Heskainen struck 32 seconds after faceoff.
Mikael Granlund made Corey Perry pay for a high-sticking minor, and Matt Duchene did the same with an Evander Kane high-sticking penalty.
“We have to kill better. It’s as simple as that,” said Oilers defenceman Darnell Nurse. “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. Whether it’s a won battle, a clear, a block, whatever play has to be made on the PK, we have to make it, and we didn’t do that enough tonight.
“Our five-on-five game is really good, we just have to use it more. In the last couple of series, when we stayed out of the box and kept the game at five-on-five, we played to the strength of our team.”
The Oilers weren’t able to turn a power-play chance midway through the third period, or the several seconds of sustained possession with a man-advantage before it was whistled, into an equalizer and went 1-for-3. The Stars were 3-for-4.
Tyler Seguin, with just under four minutes left, and Esa Lindell, with an empty-netter, sealed the Game 1 victory for the Stars.
Edmonton’s special teams have been solid at home in the post-season with a power play running at 60 per cent and a penalty kill at 83.3.
But the Oilers have given up 12 power-play goals on 25 chances and were 1-for-17 with a man advantage on the road
“It’s such a short sample size. Just to say the power play on the road isn’t very good, we’ve only had 16 opportunities and even if we put in one or two more… hitting goalposts or empty nets that we miss, they just go in, it’s probably what it should be,” Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said.
“They don’t go in, now it looks terrible. Do I think our power play is that good at home, where we’re 50 per cent or whatever it is? No, we’ve been very fortunate there. Over the course of a few more games, it will work itself out.”
Edmonton took Game 1 of last year’s conference final against the Stars in double overtime with McDavid scoring the winner for a 3-2 victory. The Oilers regretted letting Wednesday’s opener slip away.
“We let down our guard for five or six minutes, got into some penalty trouble,” said Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner, who made 22 saves to counterpart Jake Oettinger’s 24.
“There are always momentum shifts, but in the playoffs it feels heavier because it’s a heavier moment.”
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