Seguin, Stars hand Oilers 7th straight loss
Dallas, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - Tyler Seguin scored twice as the Dallas Stars held off the struggling Edmonton Oilers for a 3-2 victory on Tuesday.
Rookie defenseman John Klingberg finished with a goal and an assist for the Stars, who won their third straight game.
Kari Lehtonen turned aside 35 shots in the win.
Boyd Gordon and Taylor Hall each lit the lamp for Edmonton, which received 30 saves from Viktor Fasth in defeat.
"This league is too close to give other teams chances and goals like that," Edmonton head coach Dallas Eakins said. "The game was there for us. We could've easily had both points."
Edmonton dropped its seventh consecutive game and fell to 0-11-1 against Western Conference opponents this season. The Oilers also dropped into 30th place in the NHL by virtue of one more regulation loss than the Blue Jackets and Sabres. All three teams have 14 points.
The Stars took a 2-1 lead 5:59 into the second period after Seguin took a stretch pass from Klingberg through the neutral zone and finished off a breakaway with a slick backhander.
Dallas had a goal called off midway through the middle stanza as Stars forward Ryan Garbutt pushed a defender into Fasth.
Jamie Benn gathered a loose puck down low and sent a pass to Seguin, who beat a screened Fasth with a high wrister for a 3-1 advantage with 2:18 remaining in the frame.
Jordan Eberle sent a no-look pass through his skates from behind the net to Hall, who made it a one-goal game with a quick shot from the slot six minutes into the third.
With under five minutes to play, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins' rebound attempt in close got behind Lehtonen, but Cody Eakin was there to sweep it away and keep Dallas' lead intact. Edmonton pulled Fasth with under a minute to play, but failed to force an extra session.
Klingberg fooled Fasth with a rising slap shot just outside of the Edmonton zone for a 1-0 lead at 12:49 of the first.
With 30 seconds to play in the opening stanza, Gordon gathered a turnover and raced down the ice on a 2-on-1 short-handed breakaway. His original shot was blocked by sliding Stars defenseman Jason Demers, but Gordon tapped his own rebound into the back of the net for a tied game.
Game Notes
The Stars now own an 11-1-2 record against Edmonton over their last 14 matchups ... Nugent-Hopkins tallied his 100th career assist on Hall's 100th NHL goal ... Benn extended his point streak to four games ... Oilers defenseman Andrew Ference played in his 850th career game ... Forward Ales Hemsky, who spent his first 11 seasons with the Oilers, faced his former team for the first time since signing with Dallas in the offseason ... The two teams will resume the season series Dec. 21 at Rexall Place.