Matt Duchene scored two goals and Jake Oettinger made 30 saves in his first game since signing an eight-year, $66 million contract extension, lifting the host Dallas Stars to a 4-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday.
Dallas’ Roope Hintz collected a goal and two assists and Jason Robertson had one of each.
Logan Stankoven set up a pair of tallies for the Stars, who exacted a measure of revenge after falling in six games to the Oilers in last season’s Western Conference finals. Dallas has opened the season with four home wins for the seventh time in franchise history.
Oettinger, who signed the contract extension on Thursday, saw his bid for his second shutout of the season and 12th career spoiled by Leon Draisaitl with 2:22 remaining in the third period. Robertson responded by scoring into the empty net 23 seconds later.
Stuart Skinner turned aside 20 shots for the Oilers, who saw their modest two-game winning streak come to a halt.
Edmonton’s Troy Stecher was whistled for a tripping penalty on Robertson to send Dallas to the power play with 29 seconds left in the second period. Hintz won the offensive zone draw and the puck squirted to Duchene, who quickly wired a shot that sailed past the glove of Skinner to open the scoring.
Duchene wasn’t done, however, as he converted Mason Marchment’s centering feed from the low slot at 12:06 of the third period for his third goal of the season. Hintz also scored from the low slot 70 seconds later to stake the Stars to a 3-0 lead following his third goal of the season.
The Stars nearly opened the scoring with just under six minutes to play in the second after Hintz stole the puck from behind the net but failed to convert on a wraparound attempt. Hintz, however, was whistled for a tripping penalty on Ty Emberson.
Prior to the game, the Stars recalled forward Matej Blumel from Texas of the American Hockey League and placed defenseman Matt Dumba (lower-body injury) on injured reserve retroactive to last Saturday.
–Field Level Media