EDMONTON — The Dallas Stars were clicking on all cylinders Saturday afternoon in Edmonton.
Jamie Benn had a hat trick and Jason Robertson had a goal and two assists as the Stars rolled past the Edmonton Oilers 6-2.
“It's nice to see one of the leaders here for the last couple of years put up three goals on the road, in a big game. It created a lot of emotion for us,” Robertson said of Benn’s hat trick. “We're playing faster, the power play is really clicking really good right now. We’re getting shots to the net."
Joe Pavelski and Colin Miller also scored for the Stars (8-3-1), who have won three consecutive games.
Scott Wedgewood made 28 saves in net for the win.
“This is a tough building and we played a real gritty road game,” said Stars head coach Peter DeBoer. “I thought Wedgy made some big saves for us and let us get our legs under us. I though as the game wore on, we got to our game more and kind of established the way we wanted to play the game and dictated a big portion of it.”
Leon Draisaitl and Darnell Nurse responded for the Oilers (7-5-0), who have lost two straight on the heels of a five-game winning streak.
“We got ‘out-everything-ed’ tonight,” said Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft. “We, as a group, did. To me, in the 12 games we have played this year, we laid an egg tonight. That was the first time I have seen that this year where we didn’t have it in all facets of the game and to a man we weren’t good enough.”
Goalie Jack Campbell stopped 30 shots for Edmonton, but admits his game hasn’t been anywhere near what he expects from himself to this point in his tenure with the Oilers.
“I just haven't brought my best. Frankly it's just been pathetic the way I've been playing,” he said. “I owe it to this team to bring my A game, and they haven't seen it yet. So, I'm gonna just keep working hard, I'm gonna get through this, and be there for the guys.
“I expect to play at a certain standard, and I haven't done that yet. So, I'm gonna do that.”
Dallas got the only goal of the opening frame, scoring 6:15 into the first period.
Campbell made a kick save on a Robertson blast, but the rebound came out to Roope Hintz, who made a perfect pass to Pavelski at the side of the net for a tap-in to net his sixth of the season and extend his point streak to four games.
Edmonton had a few opportunities to pull even in the first, but Wedgewood made a save on a two-on-one opportunity from Kailer Yamamoto and Derek Ryan hit a post on a breakaway.
Not long after Robertson was stopped right on the doorstep, Dallas got a weak goal 6:46 into the second period as Campbell couldn’t squeeze his glove on a long slap shot by Miller — his first of the season.
The Oilers replied midway through the second period as Ryan Nugent-Hopkins found Draisaitl in his usual position at the bottom of the faceoff circle and he fired his seventh of the season past Wedgewood, giving him points in seven straight contests.
Dallas was all over Edmonton in the final five minutes of the second, starting with a goal from Robertson that hit the post and then caromed off Campbell’s back and into the net — his eighth of the year.
Just 39 seconds later, the Stars made it 4-1 on the power play as Robertson tucked his own rebound behind the Oilers netminder and Benn poked it in.
Edmonton got a goal back 3:41 into the third period as Jesse Puljujarvi feathered a pass ahead to a hard-charging Nurse, who beat Wedgewood to record his 200th NHL point.
However, Dallas responded just 20 seconds later on another power play as the puck deflected off a defender to Benn at the side of the net and he recorded his second of the game.
Benn got his seventh career hat trick goal and fourth goal of the season with 7:27 remaining in the game, opting to shoot on a two-on-one and picking the top corner behind Campbell.
NOTES
Wedgewood made his third consecutive start in the Dallas net with star goalie Jake Oettinger still out with a lower body injury. Oettinger has a stellar .952 save percentage through the seven games he has been able to suit up for … Oilers goalie Campbell made his third start of his career against the Stars, the team that selected him with the No. 11 overall pick in the 2010 NHL entry draft. He would make just one career start for the team. The Stars traded Campbell to the L.A. Kings in June of 2016 … Connor McDavid scored his first career NHL goal against the Stars on Oct. 13, 2015.
UP NEXT
The Oilers begin a four-game road trip in Washington against the Capitals on Monday. It will be McDavid’s 500th career NHL game. The Stars close out a three-game trip in Winnipeg against the Jets on Tuesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2022.
Shane Jones, The Canadian Press
