High-flying Stars out to ground higher-flying Oilers
The reason for the Dallas Stars' early-season rebound? According to center Tyler Seguin, they've gotten back to their "greasy ways." The Stars extended their points streak to seven games with a 4-2 victory Thursday night in Vancouver as Seguin had the go-ahead goal and an assist. They'll look to continue the trend when they wrap up a four-game trip on Saturday in Edmonton. "Stingy defense has been our bread and butter since probably halfway through the year last year," said Seguin, who broke a 2-2 tie at 18:29 of the second period on a three-on-one break. "This year early on we were maybe thinking about it too much and (now) we've got back into more of the natural system from last year, which is defense first, but finding greasy ways to win games. That's what you saw (Thursday)." Justin Dowling, Alexander Radulov and Blake Comeau also scored for Dallas (10-8-2) and Anton Khudobin made 32 saves. The Stars opened the season 1-7-1, but are 9-1-1 since. "You like adversity sometimes," Seguin said. "We're rallying around each other, we're having complete team efforts. Just keep it rolling now." Stars coach Jim Montgomery said it comes down to "skill and will." "We have a lot of skill in our lineup and a lot of players that can make plays," Montgomery said. "But if you don't have the will, your skill doesn't show. "We're doing skill and will right now and I think that makes us a dangerous team." The Pacific Division-leading Oilers are coming off a 6-2 home victory against Colorado in which Connor McDavid had a career-high six points, including his second hat trick in three games. "You have nights where you feel good, and then not so good," McDavid said. "(Thursday night), I definitely felt good. It's nice to get some early and keep it rolling." NHL scoring leader Leon Draisaitl had five assists to extend his point streak to 11 games (nine goals, 16 assists). He leads the league with 41 points (15 goals, 26 assists). "It's fun, it's real fun to play with Leo," McDavid said. "We've been playing together for a long time now. So these nights are fun to do it together." Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored twice for Edmonton, which went 4 for 6 on the power play. "(McDavid) was flying tonight, he had his 'A' game," Draisaitl said. "It was a good night for all of us. I know the power plays got the goals, but all four lines played solid and created and it was a good game for us." McDavid moved into second place in the NHL's scoring race with 37 points. He completed his hat trick at 8:32 of the second period, giving the Oilers a 5-1 lead. "Our power play is clicking, and when it's clicking, it's going in," Edmonton coach Dave Tippett said. "We capitalized on some chances. Those guys, if they get chances, they capitalize. The power play was good. I thought the first period was probably our best period, just moving the puck, and we were hungry on it, built a lead, and then pushed it right till the end, which was good." --Field Level Media |