Oilers pick up rare win in Dallas

DALLAS -- For a team that hadn't won in regulation at American Airlines Center in more than six years, the Edmonton Oilers ended a drought on Dallas home ice in style with a 5-1 win over the Stars before 17,004 fans on Thursday night.

"I think, mathematically, we were due," Oilers coach Ralph Krueger said. "Today we definitely had the bounces on our side. We used our opportunities early.

"(Goaltender) Devan Dubnyk played an outstanding game and the specialty teams, especially the penalty killing, did what they had to do. We had some energy coming out of the Chicago game and it was an excellent overall game for the team."

The Oilers got a goal and two assists from Ales Hemsky, Jeff Petry contributed a goal and an assist and Jordan Eberle had two assists.

Dubnyk stopped 33 of 34 shots he faced in his first start since Feb. 21 against Minnesota.

"The last two games, they beat us in the third period," Dubnyk said. "We played well the first two periods and they just beat us in the third. It was just different tonight."

Hensky said. "We didn't spend too much energy chasing the puck the way we did a lot before, and if you don't chase the puck a lot, you have more energy for offense, and I think that helped us."

Edmonton wasted little time in jumping on the Stars. The Oilers took a 1-0 lead just 1:13 in when Sam Gagner beat Dallas goaltender Kari Lehtonen, who was making his first start after missing five games with a groin injury, with a 28-foot wrister for his sixth goal of the year.

"We've talked a lot about getting pucks to the net and we were able to do that tonight," Gagner said. "Sometimes you get those types of bounces when you're getting pucks into traffic there."

At 13:52 of the first period, the Oilers then doubled their advantage when rookie Justin Schultz took a well-executed pass between Dallas' Brenden Dillon and Reilly Smith and flicked a 10-foot wrister into the right side of the Stars net to make it 2-0.

"(Eberle) seems to always find me there," Schultz said of the feed he got on his goal. "I don't know how many times I'm coming down and he hits me there, so it was a great pass by him. Whenever I'm out there and he has the puck, I just got to get open and he'll find me."

In the final moments of a penalty-filled second period, Petry flung a backhand toward the Dallas goal from the left side of the ice that struck Lehtonen's stick and then careened off Stars defenseman Trevor Daley before sailing over Lehtonen on the glove side, giving the visitors a three-goal lead heading into the second intermission.

However, the Oilers were far from done up 3-0. After Dallas defenseman Stephane Robidas received a hooking penalty just 12 seconds into the third period, Edmonton converted on the power play when Hemsky beat Lehtonen top shelf with a 25-foot wrister from the high slot just 50 seconds into the final frame, making it 4-0.

And at 11:37 of the third period, Ben Eager got on the score sheet for the Oilers, notching his first goal of the year, coming off a 40-foot snap from the right faceoff circle after a perfect pass from Lennart Petrell.

Dallas did find the back of the net with 5:55 remaining when Jaromir Jagr drilled a 38-foot slapper for his sixth goal of the year to make it 5-1, but it was clear early on that this was not the Stars' night.

"Yeah, I don't think coaches ever do that (burn the game tape), but you want to with this one," Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said. "I told players not to be at the rink tomorrow. This was a stinker."

The Oilers finished the game with five healthy defensemen after Corey Potter left the game late in the first period with a head injury. He was boarded by Dallas' Eric Nystrom. Edmonton had been down to four defensemen when Ladislav Smid was off the ice, but he returned in the third period.

Lehtonen stopped just 33 of the 38 shots he faced.

Things got pretty ugly late when Dallas' Jamie Benn received a game misconduct with four minutes left for crosschecking the Oilers' Ryan Jones in the back.

"Well, I'm sure (the league) is going to look at it," Gulutzan said of Benn's penalty. "They look at any fives. It's not a suspendable offense in my mind. Not a high hit or a head hit."

Both teams will next face St. Louis, with the Oilers continuing their nine-game road trip in the Gateway City on Friday and the Stars will host the Blues on Sunday afternoon.

NOTES: Oilers defenseman Mark Fistric, who was traded from Dallas to Edmonton in January, made his first home appearance against his former club since the trade. Fistric appeared in 257 games for the Stars between 2007 and 2012. ... Dallas left winger Erik Cole made his Stars debut and wore No. 72 after being acquired in a trade with Montreal on Tuesday. Cole skated on Dallas' third line alongside Cody Eakin and Smith. ... Tonight's game was the second for the Oilers in their nine-game road trip. ... Dallas had won six straight against the Oilers before the loss... These teams combined for 57 total penalty minutes, 38 by Dallas and 19 by Edmonton. ... Before the game, Dallas honored former standout winger Jere Lehtinen for being named to the Stars' 20th Anniversary Team. Lehtinen was a member of Dallas' 1999 Stanley Cup championship team and spent his entire 14 NHL seasons with the franchise. ... The loss snapped a streak of 11 straight games in which Dallas had scored at least three goals.