DALLAS — Playing their eighth game in 13 days, the road-weary Edmonton Oilers had little left in the tank and couldn’t navigate their way past the Dallas Stars Thursday night, falling 3-2.
They made it interesting when Nail Yakupov snuck one short-side past Antti Niemi with three minutes left, but even with their dogged effort couldn’t get any closer.
The Stars, who came into the game with only one win in their previous eight games, led from start to finish. Jason Spezza scored 83 seconds in, then Jamie Benn and Jykri Jokipakka tallied in the second period on Cam Talbot with Jokipakka’s goal going off the shaft of Benoit Pouliot’s stick, 15 seconds after Teddy Purcell had scored on a screened power-play shot.