PRE-GAME REPORT: Oilers st Stars

For the third straight game, the Oilers couldn’t defend their third-period lead, and it was the third time this season they fell to defeat after holding onto a two-goal advantage (vs. Calgary on Oct. 8, vs. New York on Oct. 30, vs. St. Louis on Nov. 2). Seven of their last eight games have been decided by one goal, and despite it still being early in the season, there are lessons to be learned about maintaining focus in closing out games in the balance.

“There are things that we like in our game, but there are things that we need to work on,” Ekholm said. “It’s early in the year, so I don’t think any team is perfect at this time of the year, but I think we can obviously do a better job in these close games.”

“Getting points all the time matters a lot, so I think that there’s room for improvement.”

McDavid’s primary assist on Roslovic’s opening goal was his 1,100th career point in his 726th career game (364G, 737A), making the Oilers captain the 69th player to reach the milestone and the fourth-fastest in League history behind Wayne Gretzky (464 games), Mario Lemieux (550) and Mike Bossy (725).

The 28-year-old has assisted on each of Edmonton’s last five goals over their previous two games and has recorded a point in each of his last 11 games against the Stars (regular season and playoffs), who are 6-3-3 this season under the leadership of former Oilers assistant coach Glen Gulutzan.

“It’s going to be a fun game,” Gulutzan said on Monday. “You spend seven years in a place, you’ve got good connections with people. I’m a people person, so you’ve got good friends there, and you always want to beat your friends.”