3 Takeaways from Stars’ 6-3 Comeback Win in Game 1

The Dallas Stars were mediocre through the first 40 minutes of their Game 1 Western Conference Final series against the Edmonton Oilers, followed by their best third period of the postseason, en route to a 6-3 victory .

Sure, Game 7 against the Colorado Avalanche in Round 1 was pretty special, but that was thanks to Mikko Rantanens one-man effort in the final half of the third period.

On Wednesday, from the beginning of the third, everyone was involved, scoring five goals, not three.

It wont be as famous as that Round 1 Game 7, but it was memorable nonetheless.

Here are three takeaways from the night that was in Dallas.

Stars Are Down But Never Out If hockey games were 40 minutes, the Stars would have lost Game 1.

The Oilers were flat-out better than them right from the start and had a 3-1 lead after two periods.

But you didnt have to know the score to know the Stars were on their way to losing another Game 1 on home ice.

Edmonton was faster, their chances more dangerous.

The Oilers played well enough to win, but they lost.

The Stars did not play well enough to win, but they did.

Thats how it goes sometimes.

The most impressive part of this five-goal period was that it started right away.

Miro Heiskanen made the game 3-2 on the power play just 32 seconds into the final period.

Three minutes later, the game was tied with another power-play goal, this time from Mikael Granlund.

The Oilers parade to the penalty box continued, and Matt Duchene took advantage to give the Stars a 4-3 lead.

That fourth goal was scored at the 5:58 mark, meaning the Stars were down 3-1 entering the third and had the lead just six minutes later.

With 14 minutes to play, the game was far from over, but it never looked like the Oilers would mount a comeback.

The Stars played the rest of the period with intentionality and determination.

They won puck battles and shut it down defensively, and at 16:02, it paid off with yet another goal to put the game away for good.

Special Teams and Depth Scoring Come Through For Stars Ahead of this series, I noted the four things the Stars need to dial in if they want to get past the Oilers.

Special teams and depth scoring were two of them, and they collided for a historic period from the Stars.

First, there was the power play.

Coming into the series, the Stars were third amongst playoff teams with a 30.8% success rate, while the Oilers penalty killing was 14th in the playoffs, coming in at 66.7% Through two rounds, the Oilers have been better at 5-on-5, and their depth scoring has been way more effective than the Stars.

Jake Oettinger is the best goalie in this series, but Stuart Skinner can shut it down when he needs to.

The power play vs.

penalty kill matchup was the one area where the Stars could exploit the Oilers, and they did on Wednesday night.

The Stars had one power play opportunity in the first 40 minutes of the game, and it looked awful.

Their zone entries werent crisp, and whenever they did get set up in the offensive end, nothing materialized.

The Oilers, on the other hand, were 1-for-2 through two periods.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored on the power play at 6:08 of the second period, which not only gave the Oilers the lead, but they carried momentum into another goal less than two minutes later.

Down 3-1 entering the third, with time left on the power play, the Stars needed to score the next goal.

Well, they scored the next five, and the first three were on the power play, taking advantage of their one edge over the Oilers and quickly.

All of the Oilers penalties were careless and unnecessary.

This should have been their warning shot.

That game could have been wrapped up with relative ease.

Instead, the Oilers took their superior 5-on-5 play off the ice and let the Stars off the hook.

The Stars depth also stepped up, even if it was on the power play.

In Rounds 1 and 2, the Stars had a hard time getting offense from anyone not from Finland or not named Mikko Rantanen, for that matter.

It worked, but it was not sustainable.

On Wednesday night, their depth finally broke through.

Tyler Seguin scored twice, and Heiskanen placed a perfect wrist shot past a screened Skinner to start the comeback.

Yes, hes from Finland, but hes been injured, and hes a defenseman, so it evens out.

The fourth goal was from the player weve all been waiting for.

After being held off the goal column all playoffs, Duchene finally got on the board.

Meanwhile, Rantanen had one point.

This is exactly what the Stars needed.

They took over the game as a team and let Rantanen rest his shoulders for a night.

Its nice to know they have them him their back pocket, but this should be more of the norm.

Heiskanen is Officially Back Heiskanen, maybe the Stars all-around best player, returned to the lineup for Game 4 of Round 2 against the Winnipeg Jets.

In that game, he had 14:52 of ice time.

In Game 5, he had 18:33, and in Game 6, he had 23:40.

In each game, we saw him get progressively better in real time as he continued to shake the rust off and get back to his game.

Game 6 was the best hed looked so far.

Wednesday night felt like the height of what we can expect from Heiskanen this spring.

Its hard to imagine hell be 100% himself before next season he missed so much time and was dropped into the middle of a playoff run but in Game 1, Heiskanen showed us what the Stars have been missing.

He moved the puck, defending well in his own zone, distributed crisp passes on the power play, and to top it all off, he got on the score sheet.

Until Mattias Ekholm is back for the Oilers, Heiskanen is the best defenseman in this series.

Even then, his offensive game is far superior to Ekholms.

If he keeps playing like this, he will be a difference-maker.

Stars: Lets Not Do That Again Alright, Dallas.

You got away with that one, but best not do that again.

Weve seen Dallas come back from multi-goal deficits before, and thats great, but the Oilers are the defending Western Conference champs and beat the Stars with the straight wins last spring to spoil a 2-1 series lead and defeat the Stars in six games.

Yes, the teams are different, but the history is still there.

The Stars had a period to remember in Game 1, and it wont be the last time the Stars power play shows its muscles.

However, they cant make a habit of sleepwalking through 40 minutes.

With their pedigree, the Oilers will be sure not to let that third period happen again.

Game 2 is on Friday night at American Airlines Center in Dallas.

This article first appeared on The Hockey Writers and was syndicated with permission..

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