Edmonton Oilers 4, Dallas Stars 1

by Mark Stepneski of Andrew's Stars Page

Stars dominate play but lose the goaltending battle.

The Dallas Stars had another big night in the shots on goal department, but it didn't add up to a win. The Stars fell behind early and could never catch up, falling 4-1 to the Edmonton Oilers at Rexall Place Saturday night.

"If we are going to be a good team we have to bring the consistency every night. This is a slap in the face for our team," said Stars coach Dave Tippett. "We didn't compete hard enough. Our top players right through the bottom of our lineup, we didn't push this game hard enough. We should have looked at this like a playoff game and we didn't do enough to win the game."

The Stars and Oilers, both trying to climb into the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference, came into the game tied at 37 points, so this was a crucial game. The loss dropped the Stars back to .500 on the season (16-16-5) and dropped them to 13th place while the Oilers climbed into a tie for ninth place.

'The disheartening this is they gained valuable points on us in the standings," said Stars forward Steve Ott. "We're all fighting for that last playoff spot and it's January now. It's a playoff game and coming up short is something we didn't want to do."

The Stars dug themselves a hole early in the game, giving up two goals in a 56 second span just before the midway point of the first period -both off the rush - to give the Oilers control of the game. Erik Cole scored off a shot from the right circle and Sheldon Souray split the Dallas defense and scored on a wrist shot from close range.

"Early on we weren't even close," Tippett said. "We gave up two goals that started behind their net. Two-hundred feet away you give up two soft goals early and you are chasing the game.

The Oilers added a power play goal in the third period when Dustin Penner scored off the rebound of a Souray blast from the point to make it a 3-0 game. Stars rookie James Neal banged home a rebound late in the second to make it 3-1, but that was all the Stars could get past Oilers goalie Dwayne Roloson, who made 38 saves in the game.

The Stars had a 39-19 advantage in shots, but Tippett didn't feel they were the kind of shots the Stars needed to generate goals.

"Not enough what we call greasy ones around the net," Tippett said. "Lots of outside stuff."

The Stars were 0-5 on the power play goal.

The Oilers snapped a two-game losing streak and improved to 18-16-3 on the season.

"This is a key stretch of games for us to start building something and put some wins together, especially coming off our last two losses," Cole said. "We need to come out every night and show the same kind of enthusiasm that we showed tonight."

The Stars lost another forward in the game. Right wing Landon Wilson was injured in a first period fight with Penner. Wilson was knocked down in the fight and hit the ice hard. The Stars said he has an undisclosed injury and will be re-evaluated Sunday.