Edmonton @ Dallas preview
American Airlines Center
Last Meeting ( Nov 27, 2018 ) Dallas 0, Edmonton 1
Edmonton native Ken Hitchcock celebrated his first home win as coach of the Oilers with an overtime victory versus the Dallas Stars last Tuesday. The Oilers bid to extend their winning streak to four games on Monday when they visit Dallas, with which Hitchcock spent parts of eight seasons in his career.
Leon Draisaitl set up defenseman Oscar Klefbom's overtime goal in a 1-0 victory over the Stars last week before extending his assist streak to three games by paving the way for captain Connor McDavid's team-leading 14th tally in Saturday's 2-1 victory versus Vegas. "We're winning games. It's not pretty but we're getting it done and that's all that matters," the 21-year-old McDavid told reporters. Like Edmonton, Dallas has also fared well of late with a 3-1-1 mark in its last five contests heading into the opener of two-game stretch at American Airlines Center, where it owns an 8-3-1 record. "It's good to be home. It's going to be nice to have six days here," Stars coach Jim Montgomery told reporters after Sunday's practice.
TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, TVA, Sportsnet West (Edmonton), FS Southwest (Dallas)
ABOUT THE OILERS (13-11-2): Ryan Spooner picked a fine time to endear himself to his new team, scoring his first goal in eight games during the third period of Saturday's contest. "It feels great. It's been kind of a rough start here for me and I have been kind of getting into my own head a little bit. I just want to help out," said the 26-year-old, who was acquired by Edmonton in a trade with the New York Rangers. Mikko Koskinen has made the modest offense stand up, turning aside all 28 shots he faced for his second shutout on Tuesday and 89 of 92 in total during his three-start winning streak to improve to 8-2-1 on the season.
ABOUT THE STARS (14-10-3): Captain Jamie Benn recorded his second straight multi-point performance by scoring his team-leading 11th goal and adding an assist in Saturday's 2-1 win versus Vancouver. Benn has collected 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in his last 11 contests overall and has a seven-game point streak (six goals, three assists) against Edmonton at American Airlines Center. Fellow forward Tyler Seguin has 12 (five goals, seven assists) of his team-leading 26 points in his last 12 outings heading into a tilt versus the Oilers, against whom he joined Alexander Radulov with a goal and two assists in a 5-1 win on Jan. 6.
OVERTIME
1. Dallas owns a 6-1-0 mark in its last seven home encounters against Edmonton.
2. The Oilers recalled Patrick Russell from Bakersfield of the American Hockey League on Sunday after learning that fellow F Valentin Zykov will not travel with the team due to immigration issues.
3. Stars G Anton Khudobin, who made 30 saves in the previous meeting with Edmonton, will be in the crease on Monday.
PREDICTION: Stars 4, Oilers 2