Memorial Cup preview with Saginaw Spirit coach Chris Lazary
Memorial Cup preview with Saginaw Spirit coach Chris Lazary
Dallas — Oilers captain Connor McDavid felt absolutely miserable sitting in the penalty box after he was called for a double-minor penalty only seconds into the first overtime of the Western Conference Final opener.
After his teammates bailed out McDavid with yet another penalty kill, they were mobbing him when he scored only 32 seconds into the second overtime on a tip-in from Evan Bouchard to give Edmonton a 3-2 win over the Dallas Stars on Thursday night.
“It was nice to score an overtime goal,” McDavid said. “A big goal.”
Especially after what happened to start overtime.
McDavid and Matt Duchene were skating away from the center circle by each other after the Oilers captain had won the faceoff between the two to open the first overtime period. There wasn’t initially a whistle when Duchene took a stick to the face, though McDavid argued that his stick was being held.
It wasn’t until Stars goalie Jake Oettinger secured the puck on a shot by Bouchard to stop the clock 17 seconds into overtime that officials did a replay review. They called a high-stick penalty after seeing that and the blood on Duchene’s lower lip.
“My thing was I don’t know what I’m supposed to do there,” McDavid said. “I am going forward trying to play the puck. It feels like he’s holding my stick. I didn’t even really feel the high stick at all. I think his face comes down on my stick. Maybe just unlucky, I guess.”
As for his time in the penalty box: “Really long. Really, really long. Miserable. Hated every second of it.”
Leon Draisaitl extended his playoff-opening points streak to 13 games with a goal, and Zach Hyman had a goal and an assist for the Oilers. Stuart Skinner stopped 31 shots, nine in the overtime, three nights after they wrapped up their second-round series with a Game 7 victory on the road at Vancouver.
Tyler Seguin had both goals for the Stars, who have lost Game 1 in their last seven playoff series since 2022.
“I think we’ve had some Game 1’s where we’ve really been feeling it out and laying a few eggs,” Seguin said. “That wasn’t the case tonight. This was a little different. So, yeah, lot of things to build off of.”
Game 2 is Saturday night.
Dallas was 0 for 3 on power plays in regulation, and called a timeout after three shots and Jason Robertson hitting a post through the first three minutes of that double-minor penalty….
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