EDMONTON – Roope Hintz had two goals and an assist and goalie Scott Wedgewood made 47 saves as the Dallas Stars continued their stellar start to the season with a 4-3 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night.
Joe Pavelski had a goal and two assists and Matt Duchene also scored for the Stars (7-1-1), who have won three in a row.
Sam Gagner had a pair of goals in his return to the Oilers and Evander Kane also scored for the struggling Oilers (2-6-1) who have lost five of their last six.
Dallas opened the scoring eight minutes into the opening period right after Edmonton’s Ryan Nugent-Hopkins missed a golden opportunity. The Stars went the other way on a two-on-one with Duchene opting to shoot, beating Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner down low for his second of the season.
The Oilers bounced back with three minutes to play in the first frame as Nugent-Hopkins stripped a puck in the Dallas zone and directed it to Kane, who blasted his third goal of the season past the glove of Wedgewood.
The Stars regained the lead three-and-a-half minutes into the second period on another odd-man rush, as Hintz dished it across to Pavelski on a three-on-one break. He put his fourth of the season into the net before Skinner could get across.
Edmonton had a good chance to pull even again on the power play, but Evan Bouchard hit the post on two occasions.
Dallas made it 3-1 on a power play of their own with four minutes remaining in the second period as a pass deflected towards the net and was directed home by Hintz.
