Mired in a three-skid, the Edmonton Oilers took out their frustration on the Dallas Stars as seven different skaters scored in a 7-1 thrashing of the Stars.
Benoit Pouliot snapped a 28-game drought in the win.
Benoit Pouliot broke a 28-game drought in win over Dallas – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
“For sure, it feels good. It’s been a while and, hopefully, I get something going with it,” Pouliot said. “It’s a big win for us, to win 7-1 like that it’s nice for everyone and we just want to keep it going.”
Cam Talbot made 22 saves to get the win as the Oilers improved to 36-24-9.
Six other skaters scored for Edmonton including Oscar Klefbom, Darnell Nurse, David Desharnais, Patrick Maroon, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Connor McDavid.
“I think it’s definitely nice to score a bunch of goals, but for us, it’s more important that we were able to shut them down,” Leon Draisaitl (two assists) said. “They’re very capable of scoring a lot of goals and I thought we did a good job tonight of shutting them down and not giving them too many chances. I thought it was a pretty solid effort.”
Brett Ritchie scored the lone Stars goal as Dallas dropped their record to 27-32-10.
WATCH: All Stars vs. Oilers highlights
At some point, the Stars will need to address their goalie issues.
Once again their netminders were weak as Antti Niemi got the start and yielded five goals on 20 shots; he was given the well worn hook midway through the middle frame.
“That might be the worst game I have coached as a Dallas Star. We need a lot more from the leaders of our team,” Dallas head coach Lindy Ruff said. “They are the guys who can make the difference at this time. We have had some tough breaks, but they are the guys the responsibility lies on.”
Kari Lehtonen mopped up and surrendered two goals on the nine shots he faced.
“As soon as the third one went in our team went dead,” Ruff said. “This time of year and knowing where we are at, all you can try to do is go out there and win your shift.”
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