McDavid wins Game 1 for Oilers in double overtime
Connor McDavid was the hero in double OT as the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Dallas Stars by a score of 3-2 in Game 1 of the Western Conference Final.
Edmonton held a 2-1 lead in the final five minutes but an unfortunate bounce to Tyler Seguin gave him a wide-open net to tie things up.
It took until the early stages of the second OT period before McDavid tipped the winner home.
“We’re comfortable in these games, we’re comfortable in this environment,” McDavid said after the game. “I thought we played really well all game.”
CONNOR MCDAVID GAME WINNER WAS THE SCRIPT. āļø pic.twitter.com/KgpcgB9bBF
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 24, 2024
Zach Hyman and Leon Draisaitl had the regulation markers for the Oilers.
McDavid redeemed
This was a nightmare for the Oilers captain before netting the second OT winner of his career.
McDavid took a double-minor high-sticking penalty off the opening faceoff of the first OT period which led to the Stars nearly winning the game off a puck that hit the post. Then he was robbed by Dallas goaltender Jake Oettinger later in that same period with an incredible stick save.
“I just have to put it in the net,” McDavid said of the chance. “It should have been in the net and glad that we were able to get the win otherwise I would have had a tough time sleeping.”
If the Oilers lost that would have been all over the highlight reels. Luckily, McDavid was able to redeem himself with a big winner.
WHAT A SAVE BY JAKE OETTINGER! š± pic.twitter.com/1djsrnsQP5
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 24, 2024
This was the second playoff OT winner for McDavid, with the other coming against the Calgary Flames in 2022.
Is Stu back?
Oilers goaltender silenced his critics with a fantastic performance between the pipes in Game 1.
After facing plenty of questions about his ability entering this series, Skinner turned in a 31-save performance and came up huge all night. He was easily the Oilers’ best player on the ice tonight, which is an encouraging sign.
“I think he gets really high grades for his game tonight,” said Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch of his goaltender. “I thought he made some key saves throughout the night, he looked confident.”
One of those key saves came early in the game on an Evgenii Dadonov that ensured the Stars didn’t get momentum going. If the Oilers can get this kind of goaltending throughout the entire series they will have a great chance at getting past the Stars.
“It’s nice being able to stop the breakaway on the first shot,” Skinner said after the game. “I just competed, worked really hard.”
EDM DAL G1. May 23, 2024. Stuart Skinner big save. š„: Sportsnet | NHL pic.twitter.com/ShEfOvINtv
— Nation Network Media (@NationNMedia) May 24, 2024
We’ll see if Skinner can continue to play at this level.
PK comes up big
The Oilers did not get a lot of chances with the man advantage tonight, but the special teams’ focus was shifted to the team’s penalty kill tonight.
Edmonton had to kill off four penalties in regulation and a monster four-minute penalty early in OT. The Oilers went a perfect 5/5 on the kill and beat the Stars without a PP goal through five periods of play.
“The penalty kill has just been amazing,” McDavid told reporters after the game. “[Dallas has] a good power play, you have to give those guys credit.”
Special teams will play a big factor throughout this series and the Oilers are showing that they don’t need to fill the net on the PP to win that battle. A gutsy performance from that group to pull out the win.
This is now officially the best season that the Oilers have had in almost 20 years. The last time the team was able to record a win in the Western Conference Final came all the way back in 2006 against the Anaheim Ducks. They were swept by the Colorado Avalanche in 2022.
The Oilers take a 1-0 series lead and extend the Stars’ losing streak in Game 1 to seven straight games. Game 2 goes in Dallas on Saturday night.
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