EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) - The Dallas Stars finally have some positive momentum going.
Patrick Eaves had a goal and an assist and Kari Lehtonen made 40 saves as the Stars won for the second time in two nights, beating the Edmonton Oilers 3-2 on Friday.
Lauri Korpikoski and Antoine Roussel also scored for the Stars, who had lost six of seven before turning things around with a win at Calgary on Thursday night.
“I haven’t played back-to-backs in a long time, so that was a nice challenge and it was fun to get lots of action too, it kept me in the game easily the whole time,” Lehtonen said.
Dallas forward Tyler Seguin, who picked up two assists, said the Stars really clamped down defensively.
“We’re finding ways to defend,” Seguin said. “With the guys out of the lineup, that’s a lot of speed and a lot of goal scoring. Our main focus and discussions have been how we’re going to defend. I thought our goalie did a great job tonight and our D made some great plays and some smart plays and our forwards track back hard. It was good things the last two nights, we’re going to put it away and keep it going.”
Patrick Maroon and Tyler Pitlick scored for Edmonton, which has lost two straight to fall to 2-4-1 since starting the season 7-1-0. Cam Talbot stopped 27 shots.
“We’re always playing from behind,” Oilers captain Connor McDavid said. “We’re putting ourselves behind the 8-ball and we have to figure out a way to have better starts.
“They did a good job at trapping up the middle and not allowing us to get speed. Ultimately, we’ve got to find a way to win a game like that. It’s just not good enough coming close.”
Roussel got the tiebreaking goal with 5 minutes left in the second period, taking a partial breakaway pass from Seguin and beating Talbot.
Edmonton had some solid chances in the dying minutes, but Lehtonen preserved the win.
Dallas got off to a fast start, scoring on the first shot of the game, just 28 seconds in. Jamie Benn fed it into the slot to Korpikoski, who blasted a shot past Talbot.
Jordan Eberle put the Oilers back on the offense just three minutes later, fishing a puck out of a scramble in front of the net and putting a shot on Lehtonen, with Maroon sweeping in to score his sixth of the season.
Eaves scored on a long point shot to make it 2-1 for Dallas five minutes into the first period.
Edmonton tied the game up again with 29 seconds left to play in the opening period as Pitlick got the puck behind the net and swooped out front before calmly lifting a backhand past Lehtonen.
NOTES: The Stars have been forced to get by without six of their top forwards, with Cody Eakin, Patrick Sharp, Ales Hemsky, Jiri Hudler, Jason Spezza and Mattias Janmark all absent from the lineup. … Coming into the game, the Stars had gone 17-3-4 against the Oilers over the past seven seasons. … It was the first of three meetings between the two teams this season, the next one is at Dallas on Nov. 19.
UP NEXT
Stars: At Vancouver on Sunday in the finale of a five-game trip.
Oilers: Host the New York Rangers on Sunday.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.