December 22, 2022 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers concluded their Dad’s trip with a Texas sized win over the Dallas Stars. The Oilers beat the Stars 6-3. They snapped their frustrating three-game losing streak in their final road game before the Christmas break.

Call Outs:

The Stars’ first goal was a three-on-two rush that was played poorly. Warren Foegele floated a pass across the neutral zone that was easily picked off by Joe Pavelski. Pavelski played the puck back to his defenceman, and Kailer Yamamoto pursued from the right side. Leon Draisaitl was caught in no man’s land while trying to play the passing lane on Yamamoto’s departed right side. None of the forwards identified Stars wingers in the neutral zone, and they were able to advance the puck with ease. Cody Ceci bobbled the puck at the Oilers blue line, and Pavelski was able to knock it loose for Jason Robertson. That forced Tyson Barrie to defend a two-on-one with Robertson and Roope Hintz. Hintz one-timed it past Skinner to give the Stars the early lead.

Klim Kostin was covering for Darnell Nurse while Nurse jumped up into the offensive zone on the second Stars goal. Mason Marchment fed Wyatt Johnston streaking down the right wing, Kostin’s side of the ice on that play. Kostin badly misplayed the pass. He tried to pick it off in the neutral zone, but he completely misread it. He didn’t come close to intercepting the pass, and Johnston blew by him easily and scored. Kostin was a fish out of water on that play. He should’ve kept the player in front of him rather than trying to intercept that pass.

Standouts:

Mattias Janmark makes a rare appearance in the Standouts section! Janmark got two goals and an assist in this game. He went to the net and managed to redirect a Kostin pass into the net with his skate. His assist wasn’t pretty, but he’ll take it. He just dumped the puck softly into the zone, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins skated onto it and scored. Janmark added an empty netter late in the game. 

Shout Outs:

The line with Janmark, Kostin, and Nugent-Hopkins was the best Oilers line in this game. Kostin got assists on both of Janmark’s goals. He made the mistake on the goal and took a penalty, but he played a simple, fast, and physical game. Nugent-Hopkins continued his torrid scoring pace. He scored on a quick shot just below the faceoff circle, and he got assists on Zach Hyman’s powerplay goal and Janmark’s empty net goal.

Warren Foegele scored the game winner in the third period. He found a soft spot in the offensive zone and got a pass from Leon Draisaitl. Foegele nailed the one-timer into the top part of the open net. He looked quick and motivated in this one. It’s nice to see him get on the board in just his third game back after his injury.

Tyson Barrie got an assist on Hyman’s powerplay goal, which extended his points streak to eight games. He’s now in eighth place among all NHL defencemen in scoring with 27 points in 34 games. Barrie was solid on the defensive end too. He got stuck in a two-on-one after a series of mistakes by teammates on the first Stars goal, but he defended well overall. Nobody could beat him wide, and he didn’t get lost in coverage by my eye.

Related: Call Outs, Standouts, and Shout Outs: Predtaors Beat Oilers 4-3 in Overtime

The score makes it look like a lopsided win for the Oilers, but that was certainly not the case. Foegele’s game winner was scored at 11:46 of the third period. Connor McDavid scored to give the Oilers a two-goal lead with 3:43 left in the game. Dallas had leads of 1-0 and 2-1. They tied the game at three after the Oilers had gone ahead 3-2. 

The Oilers made bad mistakes on two goals, with Kostin’s mistake being the most egregious. They made bad mistakes in their previous three losses as well. The difference was that they avoided making those mistakes late in the game, and they were able to outscore their mistakes this time.

I’d like to point out that Miro Heiskanen, Dallas’ fantastic $8.45 million defenceman, committed a horrendous turnover to Draisaitl that led directly to the game winning goal. He passed it from the corner to Draisaitl’s tape at the Stars blue line. Draisaitl passed it back across the grain to Foegele, and the rest is history.

Darnell Nurse made two sloppy mistakes that led directly to goals against the St. Louis Blues last Thursday night. He’s made many mistakes with the puck in recent games. It’s totally fair to criticize him for those mistakes. However, let’s remember that other teams’ best defencemen make mistakes too. We as outsiders look at those players on other teams after those mistakes and realize that they’re still good players. If you look past the frustration of his recent costly mistakes, Nurse is still a good player, even though he’s overpaid.

The Oilers will take on the Vancouver Canucks at home on Friday night in their last game before the Christmas break.