“We didn’t play a complete game, but we found a play to win.” – Evan Bouchard

Edmonton looked a little sleepy out of the afternoon puckdrop. The Oilers turned over the puck deep in their own end, and left open space for a cross-seam pass – thankfully Stuart Skinner was able to shut the door.

Draisaitl sent the puck over the boards – but no delay of game was called. Edmonton lucked out, and the non-call tilted the ice. The Oilers immediately scored on the next shift off a Bouch bomb fired from the top right circle.

Further chaos came when Jason Robertson got their stick jammed in between Brett Kulak’s skate. The two worked on dislodging, and the commotion created a break in the Dallas offensive structure. McDavid got loose and launched into Dallas’ end accompanied by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins; McDavid passed to Nugent-Hopkins, who passed it right back, and McDavid wristed the puck over Oettinger’s shoulder to extend Edmonton’s lead to two.

Dallas got a make up call with two seconds left in the period. Kapanen was called for a high stick that actually belonged to the Stars; It was only a 2 minute minor, so no review for the call. Edmonton’s penalty kill was up to the task, and the best Dallas could do was hit their second post of the game.

The Stars battled back into the game and cut the Oilers’ lead in half during an extended defensive shift started by a hit on Connor Brown. Liam Bichsel sent a snap shot towards the net for a Jason Robertson tip in – no shutout tonight, and Brown was done for the night after taking a shoulder to the jaw.

Connor McDavid willed a goal into existence with 20 seconds left to play in the second period; while contesting around the boards the puck took a funny bounce and landed behind him – McDavid turned on a dime and sniped a lethal wrist shot top shelf before Dallas even had a chance to backcheck.

Dallas was within an inch of scoring again to start the third, but Stuart Skinner made a heroic effort to protect the lead. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins threw a cross ice stretch pass to Zach Hyman, and Hyman scored bar down for the fourth Oilers goal of the afternoon.

As the game died down Evander Kane and Zach Hyman made sure this game would be completely out of reach as they scored goal number five on a routine give-and-go play. With seven minutes left to play Dallas was outshooting Edmonton 36-21, and down 1-5.

John Klingberg twisted the knife with goal number 6 in garbage time, shooting a solid wrister from the slot after Dallas took a sloppy penalty.

The Oilers weren’t the better team for the entirety of Game 3, but they were the better team when it mattered. The Stars were clearly emotional from the Hintz slash in Game 2, resulting in some borderline plays that sent Nugent-Hopkins and Brown off the ice. The Oilers stayed disciplined, played solid defence, and capitalized on errors where it counted – on the score board.

The Oilers now hold a 2-1 lead in this series, and the Stars haven’t been able to find an answer for the Oilers’ 5-on-5 play. Games 1-3 have shown that the only team that can beat the Oilers in this series… is the Oilers. The two teams will face off again Tuesday night. The rest will do both teams some good after the chippy Sunday affair. Game 4 will be a crucial moment that decides whether the Stars will play the rest of the series on their heels, or strike back and make Edmonton fight for it.