In Edmonton, the Oilers were looking to extend their newfound home ice advantage after gaining a split in Dallas in the first two games of their Western Conference Final series with the Stars. 
It started well enough on Monday night.
The Stars rallied with five goals to take a 5-3 win over the Oilers in Game 3, and a 20-1 series lead.
They also took home ice control back form the Oilers with the win.
Zach Hyman deflected a shot/pass by Connor McDavid at 2L02 of the opening stanza to give the Oilers a 1-0 lead.
McDavid was then credited with a goal at 7:37 of the first on an “own” by a Dallas defender at the crease. McDavid was the closest Oilers player to the puck at the time.
“I thought they went up a couple levels, and we went down a few levels. Obviously, you see the difference,” McDavid said. “You try to keep playing. You don’t go up by two and say, ‘Let’s just hold this all the way through for the next 50 minutes.’
“We’re obviously trying to keep playing and we let one get away there.”
That gave the Oilers a 2-0 lead headed to the second period.
That’s where the Oilers lost control of the match.
Dallas hit for three straight goals to take a 3-2 lead in the middle frame.
Jason Robertson hit the first two goals of a hat trick on the night to tie the game, 2-2.
“Goal-scorers like him, you need one to drop and, all of a sudden, it looks like a soccer net,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “Goal-scorers are all streaky like that, and obviously having Roope (Hintz) back helps.”
His first goal, the first in 11 games, came at 5:35 off a cycling play in the left corner with Roope Hintz hitting Robertson with a pass at the top of the left circle for a one timer and a 2-1 score.
Robertson picked up his double at 8:05 off a scramble at the net net. He lifted a backhander into the top of the cage for a 2-2 tie.
At that point, the Stars had outshot the Oilers, 11-0, in the period.
Game 4 is set for Edmonton on Wednesday night.
Wyatt Johnston scored off a wrister from down low just 63 seconds later to give the Stars a 3-2 lead, on their 12th shot of the frame.
With 53 seconds left in the second, Adam Henrique deflected a cross circle pass from Connor Brown on the boards to tie the game, 3-3, headed to the third period.
“They pushed and we didn’t,” Henrique said. “That’s it. Teams are going to push like that. It’s a good team over there, we have to find a way to calm down and get back to our game.”
Jake Oettinger made 27 saves in the win.
“It was a complete reversal of the first period,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “I think they really were ready to come out hard and have a good push, and we were just kind of hoping things would just continue sailing in the first period, caught us by surprise.
“I think we had our start we needed but took our foot off the pedal.”
The Dallas offense was front and center in the second period with 16 shots to the Oilers seven, but they had just three shots in the first and third periods.
With the score tied, Dallas locked down the defense, and kept the Oilers to outside, and limited any quality chances.
Robertson collected his hats at 11:54 of the third after jamming the puck past a prone Stuart Skinner, who failed to close down any gaps between himself and the left post.
“Definitely, you want to score goals,” Robertson said. “It’s been a while, and you still contribute but obviously when you want to help the team you want to score goals and scoring one gives you confidence and gets you ready to go.
“Kind of just like a domino effect.”
With 1:52 left on the regulation clock, Miro Heiskanen collected a puck off a face off in the right circle in the defensive zone, and wristed it down ice form the bottom of the circle into an empty net for the 5-3 final count on the scoreboard.
Use CodePHN15 Robertson earns #PHNChairoftheNight for his hat trick in the win
Skinner made 16 saves in the loss.
“It was a little bit frustrating. You knew that they were going to push back, these guys obviously want to make it to the finals,” Skinner said. “And obviously we do as well, but I think we just let off the gas a little bit.
“The main thing is I just can’t be letting in four goals, especially against the Dallas Stars, how good they are defensively.”
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