Sporty.com | NHL: Stars beat Oilers in Game 2 to even Western Conference final

Mason Marchment scored the tiebreaking goal early in the third period and Jake Oettinger made it stand up with 28 saves as the Dallas Stars defeated the Edmonton Oilers 3-1 to even the Western Conference final at a game apiece on Saturday night.

Marchment deflected a shot that went through the legs of Oilers defenseman Vincent Desharnais and bounced on the ice past Stuart Skinner at 3:41 of the final period. It was Marchment’s first goal since the playoff opener on April 22.

Jamie Benn opened the scoring for Dallas 3:39 into the game and Connor Brown answered for Edmonton just 44 seconds later.

Esa Lindell tallied into an empty net with 2:03 remaining.

The series shifts to Edmonton for Game 3 on Monday night.

Stuart Skinner stopped 22 shots as the Oilers were held to fewer than two goals for just the second time in 14 playoff games. The other was a 1-0 win over Los Angeles in Game 4 of the first round.

Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl was held pointless, ending his playoff-opening point streak at 13 games. That was one short of matching Mark Messier’s franchise record set in 1988.

Dallas failed to capitalise on its only power play of the game after going 0 for 5 in Game 1. That extended the Oilers’ streak of 20 penalties killed over six-plus games since giving up a power-play goal in Game 3 of its second-round series against Vancouver.