Stars 4, Oilers 1
EDMONTON, Alberta -- Less than a week after the Dallas Stars waltzed into Edmonton and beat the Oilers in overtime, the two teams faced off in a rematch at Rexall Place that was every bit as predictable.
The Stars broke open a 1-1 game with three goals in the third -- one early and two late -- to post a 4-1 decision on Tuesday night.
It started well enough for Edmonton, with Taylor Hall opening the scoring 12:59 into the first period when he let a wrist shot go in mid-stride and caught Dallas netminder Kari Lehtonen flat-footed.
That stood up as the only goal of the first period, but only because of some great goaltending at both ends, with Devan Dubnyk and Lehtonen taking turns robbing the shooters on great scoring chances.
Dallas evened it in the second period on one of the flukiest goals Rexall Place has seen in some time. A Brenden Dillon point shot rose up off a stick, bounced off the end glass behind the net, hit Dubnyk between the numbers and bounced in.
The Stars went up 2-1 on another rather fortunate bounce, with Eric Nystrom's softie from the point banking in off Nugent-Hopkins in the Edmonton slot.
Jaromir Jagr iced it with five minutes to go in the third, then Ryan Garbutt made it 4-1 for good measure.
NOTES: Dallas, after playing in Edmonton last Wednesday, flew to Texas for one game before flying back to Edmonton for a rematch. ... Oilers coach Ralph Krueger made veteran Ryan Smyth a healthy scratch for the first time in his career, just a week after the no-nonsense bench boss made veteran defenseman Ryan Whitney a healthy scratch for the first time in his career. ... The Oilers put tough guy Darcy Hordichuk on waivers before sending him down to the American Hockey League's Oklahoma City Barons. ... Dallas called forward Antoine Roussel from the AHL's Texas Stars. The 23-year-old has eight goals and 11 assists in Texas. ... Stars winger Jamie Benn has hit the ground running after his contract dispute. He scored goals in all three games of a three-game Dallas win streak and has seven points in seven games.
