Stars rally back to force OT, lose to Oilers, 3-2, in second session Seguin double forces overtime, McDavid wins it in second session

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In Dallas, the Oilers made a rush up ice in the second extra session on Friday morning.  Evan Bouchard collected the puck off the right boards and sent a shot/pass to the low slot, where Connor McDavid redirected the puck into the net for a 3-2 win to the Oilers with 32 seconds gone in the overtime.

“It was nice to score in overtime. A big goal, great play by [Bouchard] as usual,” said McDavid. “You’ve got to win tight games. We’re down to the final four teams. You don’t get to the final four without being a great team, so all four teams are solid. Dallas is a great team. It’s going to be tight hockey.”

With the win, the Oilers steal home ice, and take a 1-0 series lead over the Stars in their Western Conference Final.

“In a perfect world, we’d like to win Game 1. We’d like to win every series four straight, too. It doesn’t happen,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “I think the main thing is, you’ve got to find a way to survive and move on. We’ve got to park this game. We’ve been in this situation before. We’re the best road team in the League. I’m not as concerned about that. I think we need to find another level in our own game, and the wins will take care of themselves.”

Stuart Skinner made 31 saves in the win.

“Teams that have success in the playoffs are good defending teams, teams that can check and play responsible,” Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said. “There’ll be nights in the playoffs that we can score goals, but to win consistently, we have to be able to defend. You can’t play a perfect game, but we have to make sure we limit those errors and I think we’ve done a good job of that. When we have made mistakes, we’ve got to count on our goalie to make some saves. [Skinner] did that tonight.”

Game 2 is set for Saturday in Dallas.

After a scoreless opening stanza, the Oilers had taken a 2-0 lead with a pair of strikes in the middle frame.

Leon Draisaitl scored first to give the Oilers a 1-0 lead with 58 seconds gone in the period.

He scored from low in the right circle on a shot from his knees.

“We can score goals 5-on-5,” McDavid said. “Our power play’s been good for a long time and it’s been there for us when we need it. We can generate chances, we can score goals 5-on-5, even when the power play, we’re not getting them or it’s not necessarily as clean as we’d like. I thought it was a well-rounded game.”

Zach Hyman pushed the advantage to 2-0 at 4:17.

“I thought we matched up good. I thought we played really well, at times they had the upper hand at times we had the upper hand. That’s the way it’s supposed to be in the playoffs,” the Oilers’ Mattias Ekholm said. “I really enjoyed the way we played Game 1, but again, it’s one win. Doesn’t really matter in the long run. We have to be ready to go in Game 2.”

Tyler Seguin then rallied the Stars back with a double to force the overtimes.

He potted his first at 6:11 of the second period to trim the deficit to 2-1. He scored off a melee in front of the crease.

“He’s learning how to find a way to get different goals and it’s great to see,” Dallas’ Jamie Benn said of Seguin. “He’s having a great playoffs so far, so hopefully we can keep him going.”

Seguin picked up his double at 16:37 of the third period, tying the game, 2-2.

Jason Robertson started the sequence by lifting a shot on net where Evgenii Dadonov  deflected the puck to Sequin for the tap in. les

“We played a good enough game to win, and so did they. It’s inches out there,” Seguin said. “I thought it was a great hockey game, and we’ve been here many times. Two teams here in the West that are here for a reason, so it’s going to be little inches out there, little bounces. It’s going to be a fun opportunity and we’ve got to win the next one at home.”

The Oilers went 5-for-5 on the penalty kill, including a four-minute double minor for high-sticking against McDavid 17 seconds into the first overtime. They have killed off 19 straight power plays.

Jake Oettinger made 35 saves in the loss.

“I thought we got better as the game went on for sure,” DeBoer said. “I didn’t think we were great early in the game. But as that game went on, we got a little bit better. But we have another level we can get to. And we’re going to have to against that team. That’s a good hockey team.”