DALLAS (AP) — Jake Oettinger stopped 35 shots for his second straight shutout, Radek Faksa scored early and assisted on two of Dallas’ four goals in less than 7 minutes of the second period and the Stars beat Edmonton 5-0 Wednesday night , to set a franchise record with their eighth straight win.
“There’s been a lot of great teams in this organization over the years, so to have the longest winning streak is great,” Oettinger said. “And hopefully we can increase that as much as we can.”
The winning streak, which includes their previous four games on the road, has put the Stars atop the Western Conference standings with 105 points. They are just one point behind the New York Rangers for the most in the NHL with six games remaining for both teams.
Wyatt Johnston and Sam Steele also had a goal and an assist for Dallas. Tyler Seguin added a powerplay goal and captain Jamie Benn scored his 19th goal for a group that already has seven 20-goal scorers.
“It starts with a goalkeeper. I thought he was our best player. He was fantastic and he was fantastic early in the game when we were small, I thought, basically the first 10 minutes,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “A couple of momentum-shifting saves in the middle of the game where it could have been a lot closer.”
Oettinger recorded 17 saves Saturday in Seattle. He had to work much harder for this one, his 10th career shutout and the first time he’s held back-to-back opponents scoreless. He now has seven-plus periods, about 152 minutes, since allowing a goal.
Edmonton goalie Calvin Pickard, who played his 19th game this season, recorded 27 saves.
The Oilers, second in the Pacific Division with 95 points, were shut out for just the third time this season. They were 0 for 4 on the power play.
“Absolutely a big credit to the Dallas Stars. They play really good hockey, they’re a really good team,” Oilers coach Chris Knoblauch said. “Coming here was a challenge for us and we fell short. I thought it was a good test to see how good we are and we still have work to do to catch up with them.”
Dallas took the lead for good just 2:08 into the game after Craig Smith was picked off by Leon Draisaitl at the blue line, the puck went to Steele before Faxa slipped it to the feet of Pickard for his seventh goal of the season and first in 10 games .
Johnston scored his 30th goal immediately after leaving the penalty area. The 20-year-old, in his second full season, joined the strike from outside the box, with Faksa getting the second assist of the game when Johnston tapped in a pass from Thomas Harley for a 3-0 lead. Benn and Steele scored 22 seconds apart late in the period.
Seguin scored a goal in the second period that began with 6:44 left on a sniper shot from Pickard’s right that went behind the goal after Miro Heiskanen’s pass across the top of the crease.
Oettinger made some impressive saves and withstood a 35-second shot from Edmonton, who were playing power early in the second period with a 1-0 lead still.
Leon Draisaitl sent a shot wide of the right post that ricocheted back in front and was palmed away by Oettinger. He then made a glove save from Connor McDavid before deflecting Evan Bouchard’s shot into the goalkeeper’s gut. Oettinger already had 20 saves by then.
Next up
The Oilers are at home Friday night against Colorado.
The Stars, who also have a seven-game winning streak on the road, are playing their final away games of the regular season. They are in Chicago on Saturday and Colorado on Sunday.
