The Dallas Stars swept the season series 3-0 over the Edmonton Oilers with an emphatic 7-2 beatdown on Thursday night. In three games, the Stars outscored the Oilers 19-8.
The onslaught started at 1:23 of the opening period, and the Stars never let up.
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Jamie Benn, Sam Steel, Jason Robertson, Wyatt Johnston, and Matt Duchene scored for the Stars, while Jake Oettinger made 30 saves on 32 shots.
Evan Bouchard and Jason Dickinson scored for the Oilers. Tristan Jarry made 20 saves on 27 shots.
The Stars now have points in 14 straight games.
No Rantanen, No Hintz, No Problem
The Stars have played eight games since returning from the Olympic break. Mikko Rantanen has yet to play, and won’t until the end of the season, and Roope Hintz has played just one game. While the Stars are loaded with talent, there’s no doubt that those two guys stir the drink.
Since they’ve been out, the Stars have been producing at a high level, and they’ve been doing so by committee. Duchene has three goals and 12 points, Johnston has six goals and 12 points, and Robertson has four goals and 12 points. Miro Heiskanen has two goals and 10 points, Steel has four goals and eight points, and Benn has five goals and seven points.
Rantanen is the newest member of the Stars out of all of the players that are listed above. However, whether it’s 5-on-5 or on the power play, everything seems to go through him. To watch this team not miss a beat without two of their leaders is really impressive heading down the stretch, especially since they will be without them for at least the rest of the month.
These Stars are Different
In last year’s Western Conference Final, the Stars were dominated and embarrassed as the Oilers headed to the Stanley Cup Final with a 4-1 series win. Throughout the series, the Stars were exposed defensively and offensively, but no area were they exposed more than physically.
We all remember Hintz getting karate chopped on the skate and hobbling around for the rest of the series, and no teammate coming to his defense or showing any sort of emotion. That was far from the only incident in the series, and it was a problem that had been showing its ugly head for years.
When Glen Gulutzan was hired, being more physical was one of his main talking points, and we’ve seen it implemented as the season has gone on. And it wasn’t just on physicality. It was about sticking up for each other: a one-for-all, all-for-one mentality. On Tuesday night, this reached its climax. As the night went on, it felt like a scrum followed every whistle. Whether an Oiler poked at Oettinger after the whistle or took liberties on members of the Stars, the Stars would not let themselves get pushed around.
While the whole team was getting involved in a plethora of extracurricular activities, Justin Hryckowian was in the middle of all of it. From fighting Connor McDavid to drawing a cross-checking penalty on Darnell Nurse to chirping the entire Edmonton bench, Hryckowian led the charge, and his team followed.
There was a point in the night where the Oilers, quite frankly, unraveled. They were dirty and constantly in the penalty box. The Stars of the past would have taken the bait and let their play suffer. Instead, they stood up for each other while continuing to play disciplined hockey.
For the Stars, the regular season means almost nothing. However, this is something we haven’t seen before, and it will be interesting to see how it translates in the spring.
Stars Send a Message
The Stars and Oilers have met in two straight conference finals, and right now, based on how the Oilers are playing, it’s hard to envision there being a third. However, let’s look at this realistically.
If the playoffs started tomorrow, the Oilers would play the Vegas Golden Knights in the first round, who haven’t been overly impressive either. If they won that, they would play the winner of the Anaheim Ducks and the Utah Mammoth. Again, this is if the season ended today. I know there are a lot of questions surrounding this team right now, but do we really think they couldn’t beat any of those three teams in a best-of-seven series?
On the Canadian broadcast, the Oilers’ broadcasters throughout the game were quick to bring up the playoff history and why this regular-season series was important to the Stars because of how the Oilers have dominated them throughout the last two postseasons. I get the idea, but the truth is that these teams are both incredibly different from those in years past. The Oilers are having issues up and down their roster. More importantly, the Stars have found an edge and a camaraderie that they just have not had in the past.
Maybe what we saw on Thursday doesn’t matter. Maybe it does. All I know is that if these teams do meet in May, the Stars will be ready.
