Oscar Klefbom's first goal of the season was the winner, and goalie Mikko Koskinen made 28 saves for his second shutout of the year as the host Edmonton Oilers beat the Dallas Stars 1-0 in overtime Tuesday night.
Klefbom finished off a two-on-one rush at 2:42 of the extra period for the game-winning goal, his first in 26 games. Leon Draisaitl created the odd-man rush with his speed and fed a cross-ice pass to Klefbom, who quickly buried the marker.
Koskinen, who has nearly supplanted Cam Talbot as the club's No. 1 goalie, benefited from his team's commitment to defending, but it wasn't an easy shutout.
He came up with his best save of the night late in regulation when he denied Jamie Benn with a couple of seconds left on the clock. Koskinen then covered the rebound with Tyler Seguin lurking just before the buzzer sounded.
The Oilers thought star Connor McDavid scored 75 seconds into overtime, believing the puck just crossed the line -- a play that went into video review -- but the no-goal call on the ice wasn't overturned.
The hometown debut of Oilers head coach Ken Hitchcock was a prime example of what fans of the high-flying team had best become used to.
Taking an all-too-familiar page out of Hitchcock's coaching manual, the Oilers and Stars were scoreless through regulation due to stifling defensive play. That said, the defense-first style Hitchcock is notorious for has him among the all-time leaders in NHL history. He's fifth in regular-season games coached at 1,540 and third with 825 regular-season victories.
The Oilers are 2-1-1 since Hitchcock took over the reins from the fired Todd McLellan on Nov. 20.
Anton Khudobin stopped 30 shots for the Stars, who are struggling of late with a 1-3-1 slide. Dallas has scored one goal or none in five of its past eight games.
--Field Level Media
Dallas | Edmonton | |
N/A | Points | Oscar Klefbom 1 |
N/A | Goals | Oscar Klefbom 1 |
N/A | Assists | Leon Draisaitl 1 |
N/A | Power Play Goals | N/A |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Anton Khudobin .968 | Save Percentage | Mikko Koskinen 1.000 |
Anton Khudobin 30 | Saves | Mikko Koskinen 28 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Dallas | 28 | 0 | 0-2 | 2-2 | 4 | 30 |
Edmonton | 31 | 1 | 0-2 | 2-2 | 4 | 31 |