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Antoine Roussel tallies 3 points and Stars beat Oilers 6-3

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Coming off a long, hard stare in the mirror after a dismal performance on the road (0-2-1), the Dallas Stars welcomed the comforts of home and took to the ice in a Saturday matinee against an eerily similar team that has failed to live up to expectations–the Edmonton Oilers (7-10-2). Kari Lehtonen (.910 SV%) got the start between the pipes as usual starter Ben Bishop could probably use a little time off after a tough stretch of play. Bishop wouldn’t gain any respite as Lehtonen was pulled in the middle of the game. Beloved former Dallas Star Vernon Fiddler gave the ceremonial puck drop to much applause and fanfare.

Remi Elie got things going on a rush in which he nearly avoided a back-checking Eric Gryba for a breakaway attempt but he drew a hooking call instead. Lehtonen made two early big-time saves, one on a shot from point blank, and the other on a shorthanded breakaway by Zack Kassian while the Stars were on the power play. The first man advantage of the game for the Stars was messy and they struggled to maintain control of the puck.

Antoine Roussel found himself on the top line and finished with a goal and two assists because of it. He took a deep pass in the offensive zone from Jamie Benn, threw the puck from behind the net, and it took a fortunate bounce off of Cam Talbot’s shin pad to scoot in over the goal line. It was Dallas’ first shot on goal up to that point. Greg Pateryn and Milan Lucic dropped the gloves for a couple of seconds, but ended up on the ice after Pateryn dragged his opponent on top of him.

Roussel continued to be rewarded by playing with the top group and had Alexander Radulov flanking him on a rush. Roussel dropped it back to Radulov who finished the play with a wrist shot that beat Talbot and gave the Stars plenty of momentum. After an unsuccessful power play opportunity, Tyler Seguin was blasted with a flurry of cross checks in front of the boards from Connor McDavid that inexplicably went uncalled. Away from the play the Oilers were given a bench minor for unsportsmanlike conduct that gave Dallas their third power play.

There were some major miscues on all of the Stars’ power play chances that yielded shorthanded shots from the Oilers, and it eventually came back to bite them late in the first period. McDavid rushed up the ice and fed Drake Caggiula for a tap-in goal that took the air out of the building. Caggiula had previously only scored one goal all season but scored two in the game. The Oilers then went on a power play of their own, and McDavid further deflated any good vibes the Stars had accumulated. He threw the puck towards a wide open net, had it blocked by Jamie Oleksiak, then followed his own rebound back to beat a still recovering Lehtonen.

The first period ended with a chaotic fracas that resulted in Oleksiak squaring off with Maroon. Oleksiak landed several blows to the side of Maroon’s head before he went down. Upon further review via Twitter, the whole episode was sparked by Roussel kicking an Edmonton player in the middle of a scrum.

Caggiula capitalized off of a Stars turnover in the second period. Dallas struggled to clear their own zone which resulted in multiple shots on goal. Lehtonen couldn’t control the rebound and Caggiula was crashing the net when the puck came right to him for the easy goal. This resulted in Lehtonen being pulled in favor of Bishop. On the goal McDavid picked up his second assist to go with one goal, and it was Edmonton’s third unanswered goal.

Things weren’t seeming to get much better from there as the Stars were called for too many men on the ice, giving the Oilers their second power play of the game. It wasn’t a great call, and the officials were clearly confused. Bishop got off to a hot start on the penalty kill and held off the Oilers.

In what had to feel like a monumental relief, Devin Shore scored his first goal of the season on a one-timer assisted by Seguin. The puck appeared to be redirected by Oiler defenseman Oscar Klefbom’s stick, and Brett Ritchie had his big frame in the sight line of Talbot. Tyler Pitlick created a quality scoring chance against his former team by stealing the puck on the forecheck and sending it to the front of the net to no avail. Pitlick kept working hard and was eventually rewarded. After clearing the zone through some vicious forechecking by Edmonton, Pitlick found Radek Faksa crashing the net to put the Stars up by one.

Heading into the second intermission, the Stars were able to enjoy a one goal lead and over a minute of power play time left from the previous period. Plenty of credit should go to Bishop, who appeared to have a calming presence for his team and handled everything sent his way.

Thanks to the time on the power play and a couple of icings by the Oilers, the Stars maintained control early in the third period until Benn committed a high sticking minor. Bishop once again bailed the Stars out with a quick-hitting save on a point blank shot from Leon Draisaitl. Dallas caught a couple of breaks and finished off a critical penalty kill. Radulov joined the play and promptly drew a minor penalty, Draisaitl’s third of the game, to give the Stars another power play.

Benn then gave the Stars some breathing room after some hard work from Radulov. He was close to the net and swatted the puck in past Talbot as he was recovering across his crease. Benn’s goal was assisted by Radulov and Roussel.

Lucic really irked the Stars by crashing hard into Benn, to which John Klingberg immediately took issue. Several Stars came in behind the dislodged net to voice their frustrations as well, and the play resulted in another power play chance for the Stars. It seemed to be strictly academic at first as the Stars weren’t in any mood to give the Oilers any more shorthanded opportunities. However, Dallas caught Edmonton on a change and no-one picked up Jason Spezza who beat Talbot glove side for his second goal of the season. Bishop picked up the primary assist, his first helper of the season for the Stars.

The game was a good answer from the Stars, who had every excuse to fold and let the Oilers have their way. One would hope that they are slowly starting to figure things out and will be more consistent going forward. Credit Bishop for righting the ship. This was also a standout game for Roussel and Pitlick.

The Goals

First Period

6:36 John Klingberg and Jamie Benn had the assists on the goal by Antoine Roussel. Roussel from behind the net as the puck bounced off of Cam Talbot’s pad into the net. Stars 1, Oilers 0

8:57 Alexander Radulov scored from the right circle on a rush with Antoine Roussel. Roussel dropped the puck back to Radulov, who finished with a wrist shot. Stars 2, Oilers 0

16:54 Drake Caggiula finished off a short-handed tap-in on a pass from Connor McDavid. Stars 2, Oilers 1

17:46 Connor McDavid scored on the power play after having his shot blocked on a wide open net. Kari Lehtonen tried to recover, but McDavid’s second attempt went in. Stars 2, Oilers 2

Second Period

:42 Drake Caggiula scored his second goal of the game, and third unanswered from the Oilers, off of a rebound that ultimately chased Lehtonen from the net. Stars 2, Oilers 3

7:57 Devin Shore scored his first goal of the season off a pass from Tyler Seguin. Shore one-timed the puck to tie the game up. Stars 3, Oilers 3

18:39 Radek Faksa scored on the rush after some hard work in the defensive zone. Tyler Pitlick had the primary assist against his former team. Stars 4, Oilers 3

Third Period

13:30 Jamie Benn put the Stars up by two from in close to the net. Antoine Roussel and Alexander Radulov had the assists. Stars 5, Oilers 3

18:12 Jason Spezza scored late on the power play after a bad Oilers line change. He beat Bishop glove side, and Ben Bishop picked up the assist. Stars 6, Oilers 3

Oilers lineup
Patrick Maroon — Connor McDavid — Drake Caggiula
Milan Lucic — Ryan Nugent-Hopkins — Leon Draisaitl
Michael Cammalleri — Ryan Strome — Jesse Puljujarvi
Jujhar Khaira — Jordan Letestu — Zack Cassian

Darnell Nurse — Adam Larsson
Oscar Klefbom — Matt Benning
Kris Russell — Eric Gryba

Cam Talbot
Laurent Brossoit

Injured: Andrej Sekera (knee), Anton Slepyshev (groin)

Scratched: Yohann Auvitu, Brad Malone, Iiro Pakarinen

Stars lineup
Mattias Janmark — Jamie Benn — Alexander Radulov
Devin Shore — Tyler Seguin — Brett Ritchie
Remi Elie — Martin Hanzal — Jason Spezza
Antoine Roussel — Radek Faksa — Tyler Pitlick

Esa Lindell — John Klingberg
Dan Hamhuis — Greg Pateryn
Jamie Oleksiak — Stephen Johns

Kari Lehtonen
Ben Bishop

Injured: Marc Methot (lower body)

Scratched: Gemel Smith

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