GAME RECAP: Stars 4, Oilers 3

EDMONTON, AB – Despite scoring three times in the third period to pull within a goal, the Edmonton Oilers couldn't complete the late comeback against the Dallas Stars on Wednesday night in 4-3 defeat that closed out their four-game homestand at Rogers Place.

Forward Jason Robertson recorded a natural hat trick in the second period to give the Stars a 4-0 advantage heading into the third period, where the Oilers fought back by scoring three times following Stuart Skinner's exit due to injury after receiving head contact from winger Mikko Rantanen.

Corey Perry and Adam Henrique scored 4:24 apart on the power play before Zach Hyman made it a one-goal game with under two minutes remaining in regulation, but the Oilers couldn't find the fourth goal they needed despite pulling goaltender Calvin Pickard, who was forced to come in and replace Stuart Skinner between the pipes for the second time in three games because of suspected injury.

Henrique and Perry each recorded a goal and an assist, while defenceman Evan Bouchard produced two helpers in the loss. The Oilers nearly doubled the Stars in shots 44-24 over the full 60 minutes, but were thwarted by Dallas netminder Jake Oettinger, who finished with 41 saves in the victory.

"I thought it was a resilient effort," winger Connor Brown said. "It's pretty easy to get deflated. We were outshooting them the whole game, but gave up some layups, which was uncharacteristic. But I thought we showed a lot of resilience. We didn't get deflated between periods. We came out, grinded and almost clawed our way back."

The Blue & Orange will wrap up back-to-back games on Thursday night at Climate Pledge Arena against the Seattle Kraken, where Pickard will get the start for the Oilers after Knoblauch said that their No. 1 netminder isn't anticipated to make the trip. The Oilers are expected to make a recall a goaltender from the AHL's Bakersfield Condors prior to Thursday's game.

"Obviously, we're concerned about him and how he's doing," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "We never want to lose somebody from our lineup, but that's my secondary thought – the first one is how he's doing and that he's alright. We've got the best care. He'll be looked and we'll find out exactly tomorrow what the situation is."

FIRST PERIOD

Capitalizing on one of their two first-period power plays or any of the good looks they received in the opening 20 minutes would've gone a long way for the Oilers in limiting the Dallas domination that arrived in the second period after Wyatt Johnston put the Stars ahead 1-0 before the intermission.

"Finishing our chances," Coach Knoblauch said. "I don't think we could have played the first period any better than we did. We made one mistake and we're down 1-0 after the first period, where I thought we had a lot of good chances."

Edmonton had the early lead in shots and momentum when Zach Hyman got put through by Evan Bouchard for a partial breakaway that was stopped with a left-pad save from goaltender Jake Oettinger, who'd be busy over the course of the full 60 minutes on Wednesday evening.= by making plenty of stops.

On the following shift, the Stars committed a turnover in the neutral zone that resulted in Connor Brown picking up the puck and working a give-and-go on the left side with Jeff Skinner before he missed just wide from between the hashmarks for the Oilers, who were playing without Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl for the second straight game due of injuries.

The Oilers might've been missing their two superstars the most on the power play, where they received two opportunities in the first 11 minutes of the period but couldn't make them count. Outside of a Ryan Nugent-Hopkins open look on the first chance from Leon's office in the right circle that was parried aside by a falling Oettinger, they couldn't get much going – including no recorded shots on their second look with the man advantage just past the midway mark of the frame.

Edmonton was leading 10-4 in shots when they committed their first defensive breakdown, which resulted in Dallas going ahead on a breakaway for Wyatt Johnston that he converted over Stuart Skinner's glove for the 1-0 lead.

Off a long bank pass from Jamie Benn near the benches that bounced off the boards and through the legs of Evan Bouchard to produce the breakaway, a number of Oilers switched off defensively to leave Johnston unchecked at the blueline, allowing him to pick up the loose puck and come in alone before going top shelf on Stuart Skinner to open the scoring.

"Probably gave up too many Grade-A's, two-on-ones, and the forwards like myself not covering for the D and it ends up in back of your net," Corey Perry said. "They're a good team. They know how to play, they're skilled and they're quick, so they took advantage and we got down."

The Stars could've doubled their lead on a power play in the final five minutes if they weren't held shotless like the Oilers, with Mattias Janmark having the best chance at scoring off a quick shot and rebound that were both stopped by Oettinger to maintain his team's advantage at 1-0 heading into the break.

SECOND PERIOD

Oettinger would stop all 27 of the shots he faced through 40 minutes, but it was a different story at the other end for Stuart Skinner and Edmonton's collective defence after Dallas winger Jason Robertson was able to record a natural hat trick off the back of some Oilers mistakes.

Oettinger made two big saves on Zach Hyman and Mattias Ekholm in the first five minutes of the period before it was all Dallas for the remainder of the period, starting with a giveaway by the Swedish defenceman at the blueline that led to Robertson putting away a nice passing play between him and his linemates to make it 2-0 visitors.

Just over five minutes later as Robertson was exiting the penalty box, the Stars found themselves on an odd-man rush after Ekholm pinched up at the blueline before centre Roope Hintz chipped it into space behind him, resulting in Robertson picking up the loose puck near the Dallas bench and taking it himself by going under the right pad of Stuart Skinner for his second goal of the game.

The Stars' winger completed his natural hat trick on the power play with 4:30 left in the period when he redirected defenceman Thomas Harley's low point shot past Stuart Skinner at the right post, giving the Stars a 4-0 lead to work with heading into the final frame.

"I thought we took it to them in the first period, but they took it to us at times in the second," Brown said. "It was moreso that we weren't reloading as well as we could, and some untimely pinches. They had some odd-man breaks and they capitalized too, so if we capitalize on some of our chances in the first, maybe it's a different game.

"I think that's ultimately what it came down to. We outshot them and I thought we competed hard, so there's lots of good to take out of that game."

The Oilers outshot the Stars 27-19 after 40 minutes and found themselves down four goals off a few defensive errors, which Coach Knoblauch said overshadowed what he thought was a relatively good showing from his side through two periods without their two superstars McDavid and Draisaitl.

Knoblauch appreciated the effort from his team, especially how they fought back in the third period following Stuart Skinner's forced exit due to injury.

"Very proud of our guys and how they pushed, and I think for the most part of the game they played pretty good," he said. "I didn't really see us being down 4-0, but we made some costly mistakes and gave them good opportunities. But I thought we did a lot of good things and we had to work hard for us to have any success.

"For the most part, these two games without our two top centres, I think our guys have done that."

THIRD PERIOD

With McDavid and Draisaitl already out injured and the Oilers looking like they were trending towards defeat on Wednesday, the last thing they wanted to do was leave this game down another player – especially not their No. 1 goaltender.

Stuart Skinner would be forced to depart the contest in the third period after Mikko Rantanen came through the front of Edmonton's crease and struck the netminder's head with his left knee, leading to a stoppage in play and Skinner being replaced by Calvin Pickard for the final 11 minutes of regulation.

Following the game, Perry said that if he'd seen a clear picture of how the play unfolded, he and his teammates' reaction towards Rantanen taking out Skinner would've been a lot different.

"I was pissed at myself," he admitted. "I didn't see what happened. I was on the ice when Rantanen hit Skinner, and that's on me. I should never let that happen. I didn't see what happened. I saw Stu down and everybody just standing there, and I didn't see it until afterwards. I was pretty pissed at myself that I didn't see it."

It was the second time in three games for the Oilers where Pickard would have to come in and finish the night between the pipes after Skinner was lifted from last week's 3-2 overtime loss to Winnipeg due to potential injury – the first one being for concussion protocol, but this time it wasn't out of precaution.

After seeing Skinner exit the game, the Oilers players who were in front of him fought hard to avenge their netminder's departure, but came up just short.

"That comeback didn't have to show me anything," Knoblauch said. "I have a lot of confidence in our guys. No quit. There's been a lot of pushback when things have been hard for us. I love the character in this team and the fact that we were able to come back against a really good team without our two top players."

The Oilers responded on the power play with over half of the third period still to be played and started mounting a comeback when Jake Walman's quick shot on goal off the initial draw bounced off the backboards and onto the tape of Perry to make it 4-1 on the veteran forward's 16th goal of the season.

On another Edmonton power play under five minutes later, the Dallas lead was reduced to two when Henrique reached double-digit goals this season by burying a short-side snipe top shelf on Oettinger for his team's second PPG of the period. Edmonton's power play finished 2-for-6 on the night.

The comeback was certainly on, and it became a one-goal game with 1:25 remaining in regulation when Zach Hyman found the rebound off Evan Bouchard's point shot before tucking in his 26th goal of the season five-hole on Oettinger to make it 4-3, setting up a frenetic final minute-and-a-half.

After pulling Pickard for the extra attacker, the Oilers came close to tying the game, but it was one goal too many from the Stars, who held on to escape with the victory in spite of some third-period adversity faced by the Blue & Orange.

Pickard will get the start on Thursday night at Climate Pledge Arena against the Seattle Kraken in the second of back-to-back games for the Oilers, with crease reinforcements poised to arrive from the Bakersfield Condors prior to the contest.