EDMONTON, AB – Zach Hyman had two goals and an assist, while Connor McDavid contributed a goal and an assist for the Edmonton Oilers, who held off a third-period push from the Dallas Stars on Saturday night to pick up two points in a 5-4 victory at Rogers Place.
"I think there's a long way to go, but I wouldn't count out our group out with the experience we have here," Hyman said. "I think we're pretty confident in this group and we have a little stretch here to get to playing our best so that we're feeling good going into the playoffs."
Hyman recorded his 21st and 22nd goals of the season and picked up a helper on McDavid's second-period tally as part of five unanswered goals from the Blue & Orange over the first two periods to build themselves a 5-1 lead after falling behind on Wyatt Johnston's early power-play goal.
Newcomer Mikko Rantanen had a goal and an assist for Dallas, scoring his 28th tally of the campaign 5:06 into the third period on the power play to kick off a three-goal stretch in 4:12 from the Stars that included Jamie Benn making it a two-goal game only 11 seconds later.
Defenceman Mathew Dumba's slap shot got a lucky bounce off Ty Emberson's skate to make it 5-4, but the Oilers were able to hold on to defeat the Stars to conclude their three-game homestand at Rogers Place with two wins out of three, improving to 37-22-4 this season to sit four points back of the Vegas Golden Knights for first place in the Pacific Division.
Edmonton's newest addition in defenceman Jake Walman recorded an assist in his Oilers debut, while wingers Connor Brown and Viktor Arvidsson ended their own respective goal droughts in the victory with their eighth goals of the season. Goaltender Stuart Skinner stopped 22 of 26 shots for the victory.
"I think there'll be battles down the road with these guys at some point, and I think that was probably the perfect game for me to start off and get the feeling of what it's like," Walman said.
The Oilers now hit the road for a four games that begin Monday night at KeyBank Center in Buffalo before they face the Devils, Islanders and Rangers.