Jamie Benn scored the shootout winner in the fifth round while goalie Anton Khudobin sparkled in net as the Dallas Stars erased a two-goal deficit to claim a 3-2 road victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night.
Khudobin, given the reins while No. 1 goalie Ben Bishop is out due to injury, made 40 saves through overtime, plus another in the shootout. The Oilers misfired on three other shots in the shootout.
Dallas (41-31-6, 88 points) holds the first Western Conference wild-card spot and has won three straight.
The Oilers (34-34-9, 77 points) are six points behind the Colorado Avalanche for the second wild-card spot in the West with five games remaining. They blew a two-goal lead that was built when Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl combined for tallies in the first and second periods.
Draisaitl netted his 47th goal of the season five minutes into the game when he buried a one-timer. The goal also made him the first German national in NHL history to score 100 points in a season. McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins picked up assists.
Just over a minute into the second period, it was McDavid's time. The Edmonton center ran out of space driving to the net, so he pulled the puck behind his feet, put his stick between his legs and flipped home a top-corner shot, his 40th goal of the season. Draisaitl got the assist.
McDavid now has 114 points on the season. He and Draisaitl became the first Oilers teammates to each record 40-plus goals and 100-plus points in a season since Jari Kurri and Jimmy Carson in 1988-89.
They're also the first NHL teammates to net 100 points in the same season since Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom did it for Washington in 2009-10.
However, the Stars roared back. Alexander Radulov put Dallas on the board with a power-play tally at 6:20 of the second period, nailing the top corner with a one-timer.
Then, talented rookie defenseman Miro Heiskanen tied the game at 7:47 of the third period. He showed his ability by double-clutching in the high slot to buy time and space before rifling a shot for his 12th goal of the season.
Mikko Koskinen stopped 20 shots through overtime for the Oilers.
--Field Level Media
Dallas | Edmonton | |
Roope Hintz 2 | Points | Leon Draisaitl 2 |
Miro Heiskanen 1 | Goals | Leon Draisaitl 1 |
Roope Hintz 2 | Assists | Leon Draisaitl 1 |
Alexander Radulov 1 | Power Play Goals | N/A |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Anton Khudobin .952 | Save Percentage | Mikko Koskinen .909 |
Anton Khudobin 40 | Saves | Mikko Koskinen 20 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Dallas | 22 | 3 | 1-2 | 1-1 | 4 | 28 |
Edmonton | 42 | 2 | 0-1 | 1-2 | 6 | 26 |