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The Dallas Stars are off and running in the Western Conference Final — and Matt Duchene is back on the scoresheet. After failing to score a goal since April 8, the veteran forward capped off a third period powerplay frenzy by scoring the game winner in the opener against the Edmonton Oilers at American Airlines Center on Wednesday night.
The Stars trailed 3-1 entering the final frame, but scored five unanswered goals — including Duchene's GWG — to seal the key 6-3 victory.
“I mean, you can say whatever you want, but that weighs on a guy like that, particularly a scorer. So, great for him to get one and it was due,” Dallas bench boss Pete DeBoer said of Duchene getting the monkey off his back, per NHL.com's Tracey Myers.
“He's been around it quite a bit, just hasn’t gone in. So, hopefully the floodgates will open now.”
Besides a Tyler Seguin breakaway goal, Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner kept the Stars' potent offense at bay through 40 minutes. But those floodgates opened in a big way in the third, with Miro Heiskanen, Mikael Granlund and Duchene scoring in quick succession with the man advantage to give Dallas the lead.
“You score a goal and help your team win, and it feels great. The wins are the best feeling this time of year, but they’re short-lived and the losses are short-lived. It’s a great comeback win for us,” Duchene said, per Myers.
Seguin would score his second of the game late in the period before Esa Lindell sailed one into the empty net late in regulation to round out the five-goal outburst.
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It was certainly a surprising turn of events, but a massive win for a Dallas team that failed to win Game 1 against Edmonton at home in the 2024 West Final.
DeBoer revealed what he told his team ahead of the third period.
“Something along the lines of I didn't feel we had played our best yet. It's really tough to get to this point and if you are going to lose a game at this point, you want to make sure the other team has to earn it,” the head coach explained, per D210SPORTS' Savannah Huemoeller.
“I didn't feel that for 40 minutes we had made them earn the position that they were in. The guys responded and we got some power play goals. I'm happy for our power play as they took a lot of heat last year at this point of the year. It was the difference for us tonight.”
After dropping Game 1 against the Colorado Avalanche in Round 1, the Stars have won the opener against both the Winnipeg Jets and now Oilers. It's also just the sixth time in National Hockey League history that a team has made a multi-goal comeback in the third period of a conference final.
It wasn't a perfect game for the Stars, but it was as close to a perfect third period as you'll see in the Stanley Cup Playoffs — and the Central Division winners will take it. Game 2 is back in Texas on Friday night.
