Oilers at Stars
After posting one of the more impressive opening wins of the young season, the Dallas Stars came crashing back to earth by allowing five unanswered goals in a 6-3 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday. The Stars look to get back on track when they host top overall draft pick Connor McDavid and the winless Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday.
Dallas coach Lindy Ruff said he was "embarrassed" by the way his club played in Colorado, coughing up a 3-1 lead midway through the contest. "That was unacceptable for what we’ve gone through and tried to play defensively,” Ruff said. Oilers first-year coach Todd McLellan is dealing with futility at the other end of the ice after watching his team muster one goal in losses to Central Division powers St. Louis and Nashville. The Stars have dominated the rivalry, winning 15 of 19 meetings since January 2010.
TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, RSN (Edmonton), FSN Southwest (Dallas)
ABOUT THE OILERS (0-2-0): McLellan was flustered after Edmonton failed on all five power-play opportunities in a 2-0 loss at Nashville on Saturday to fall to 1-for-8 with the man advantage. "Our offense has to get better and a lot of that has to do with our power play," McLellan said. "I thought our power play sucked the life out of us so that was disappointing." Goaltender Anders Nilsson, who played last season in Russia's Kontinental Hockey League, is expected to make his first NHL start since April 2014 as a member of the New York Islanders.
ABOUT THE STARS (1-1-0): Ruff is also expected to make a change in net and give the start to veteran Kari Lehtonen, who takes a 12-4-1 career record against Edmonton into his season debut. Ruff juggled his lines at Monday's practice, elevating Patrick Eaves alongside captain Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin on the top line and moving Cody Eakin between rookie Mattias Janmark and Ales Hemsky. Janmark has scored in each of the first two games and wasted little time doing so, scoring on his first NHL shift versus Pittsburgh and 20 seconds into Saturday's loss.
OVERTIME
1. Seguin scored four goals in three matchups versus Edmonton last season.
2. McDavid has four shots on goal in his first two games.
3. Dallas has converted on 3-of-9 power-play chances.