Do the Stars have the edge against Oilers heading into Game 3?
After losing in double-overtime to the Edmonton Oilers in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, the Dallas Stars were able to tie up the series with a 3-1 win in Game 2 last Saturday.
Captain Jamie Benn led the way with a goal and assist, and Jake Oettinger stopped 28 of 29 shots to earn the win. Now the two teams prepare for Game 3 Monday night in Edmonton, with the question becoming: do the Stars have the edge in this best-of-seven? Or can the Oilers bounceback and retake the series lead?
On Monday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Frank Seravalli and former NHL defenseman Colby Cohen discuss Game 2 of the Stars-Oilers series and what to expect going into Game 3.
Frank Seravalli: If you look at this from the Oilers’ perspective, was this a missed opportunity? Or do we give full marks to the Stars for their third period performance?
Colby Cohen: My initial thought was that the Oilers deserved better. I thought they did enough, and while I obviously didn’t like the first goal on Stuart Skinner, but I thought he was phenomenal the rest of the way.
Then I dug in a little bit, and I rewatched some stuff this morning. A problem I had with Edmonton watching this game was that when the Stars had very few shots on goal, most of those shots were Grade-A scoring chances. Of the first five shots they had in the first period, it was a prime scoring chance.
The Oilers were leaky defensively, giving up prime opportunities-
Frank Seravalli: -and lots of opportunities on the rush!
Colby Cohen: I thought Dallas could have walked away with three or four goals, and the more I analyzed the game, the Stars did deserve to win this game.
Frank Seravalli: Sometimes when you have a 1-1 series, you feel like one team has an advantage. When you look at how the first two games unfolded, does any team have an edge?
Colby Cohen: I still give the edge to the Stars. I picked them to win the series and I’m staying with this pick. My head and my heart are in different places, but Dallas has shown us that they’re comfortably playing from behind. They did it in Round 1, and they did it in Round 2.
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…