The Edmonton Oilers won their first-ever game without both halves of their dynamic duo since Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl became NHL teammates in the 2015-16 season.
But that was against the Seattle Kraken, a non-playoff club. Now, the quest for the Oilers is to find the win column when the Stanley Cup contender Dallas Stars visit on Wednesday.
Edmonton, which beat the Kraken 5-4 on Saturday, will be without McDavid and Draisaitl for likely a week.
The Oilers (41-24-5, 87 points), who are third in the Pacific Division and battling the Los Angeles Kings for second spot and home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs, need their healthy charges to make their mark as they attempt to build on their 4-0-1 run.
“It’s a chance for everybody to kind of step up and play their game and maybe for certain guys play a little bit of a different role,” forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said. “You lose two of the best players in the game and we need to step up and make sure that we’re sharp. I think the way that we’ve been playing lately is starting to get to the way that we want to play come playoff time.”
Nugent-Hopkins has certainly led the way. Thanks to a hat trick against Seattle, he has netted four goals and five assists over the past four games.
“Ryan’s playing his best hockey of the year right now,” coach Kris Knoblauch said. “A lot more confidence being in the middle of the ice making plays. Most of the season, he’s primarily been first-line left winger, first power-play unit, first penalty kill. Over the boards last minute whether we’re up a goal, down a goal, we rely on him quite a bit.”
The Stars (45-21-4, 94 points) are kicking off a four-game road trip after earning a 3-0 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Monday, a game in which goaltender Jake Oettinger provided a 32-save performance for his second shutout of the season.
“He’s always awesome. He was great again (Monday) and we needed it,” forward Wyatt Johnston said. “It just gives us that confidence. In a perfect world, we start every game great and don’t give them much work, but it’s awesome when he can shut them down like he did.”
Dallas is solidly in second place in the Central Division, between the Western Conference-leading Winnipeg Jets and ahead of the hard-charging Colorado Avalanche. The Stars have points in five consecutive games and re on an 11-3-2 run.
The Stars have not given up hope on catching the Jets (who entered Tuesday with 100 points), but also remain cognizant of the Avalanche closing ground, with home-ice advantage such a key part of the opening round of the playoffs.
“We’ve got to roll that (Minnesota win) into the next game and the next one. I’m excited to see how we respond in those games,” coach Pete DeBoer said. “We’re trying to control what we can control, which is our game. I feel a lot better about our game after (Monday) than I did four or five days ago.”
The Stars received a scare when forward Mikko Rantanen was hit in the face by a deflected puck in the second period against Minnesota, but he returned to the game wearing a full face shield.
–Field Level Media
