‘Nice to beat that team’: Stars happy with thumping of struggling Oilers

EDMONTON – After losing to the Edmonton Oilers in the Western Conference finals the last two years, the Dallas Stars were looking to work out some of their frustrations on Tuesday.

They did that in large print, staking a 4-0 lead in the first period and knocking off the home team 8-3.

“It felt good, obviously nice to beat that team, obviously with our history in playoffs the last couple of years,” said Stars forward Wyatt Johnston, who led the team with a goal and three assists. “It was a big win and we did a lot of great things.”

Jason Robertson had a goal and two assists, Nathan Bastian had two goals and Jamie Benn and Sam Steel each had a goal and an assist for the Stars (14-5-4).

“It kind of all came together tonight,” said Benn, who was playing in just his fourth game of the season after suffering a punctured lung in the pre-season. “Obviously our start was great, that’s how we want to start games on the road, especially against good teams like this. I know what they’re all about over there, so having a good start goes a long way.”

Benn became the second player in franchise history to reach the 400-goal milestone, alongside Mike Modano (557).

Roope Hintz and Justin Hryckowian also scored for Dallas, which has gone 7-1-1 in its last nine games.

Making the win more impressive was the all-hands-on-deck effort, especially with many key players out of the lineup.

Chief amongst them was star forward Mikko Rantanen, who was serving an automatic one-game suspension by the league after being ejected from his second game in a week for boarding against Calgary on Saturday.

Also unavailable were Matt Duchene (upper body), Adam Erne (lower body), Thomas Harley (lower body), Nils Lundkvist (lower body) and Ilya Lyubushkin (undisclosed).

“We have great depth and I think that’s been a strength of ours forever since I’ve been here,” Johnston said. “It just gives guys opportunities to step up and make big plays. It’s not easy having all those guys out, but as a group we’ve done a good job of filling those holes that we have with everybody else stepping up and having a good game.”

Johnston picked up his second assist of the game on the Stars’ fourth goal, giving him 100 career assists, to go with 100 career goals, achieved on Nov. 13. Among players to debut with the Stars, Johnston, playing in his 269th game, became the third-fastest player in team history to record 200 career points behind Robertson (190 games) and Hintz (263 games).

“He’s a smart player, with a little time and space he can make a play,” said Stars head coach Glen Gulutzan about Johnston. “He’s always around the net, he’ll go to the hard areas and he gets his goals that way too. He’s just a complete player.”

Gulutzan previously served as an Oilers assistant coach before this season.

Robertson remains on fire, scoring his 14th to extend his goal-scoring streak to seven games, becoming just the 13th American player in NHL history to hit the mark and setting a Dallas Stars record. He also extended his points streak to eight games, recording 18 points (11 goals, seven assists) in that span.

The Stars have now managed points in nine consecutive road games, going 6-0-3.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 26, 2025.