Oilers perplexed by lack of penalty calls on the Stars: ‘That’s a good question’

DALLAS — The Edmonton Oilers tend to make hay on their power play.

Their proficiency with the man advantage last season was the best in league history. They converted on half their opportunities in the opening round and came through when it mattered most in the second.

But the Oilers have yet to score on the power play in the Western Conference final against the Dallas Stars, a series that’s now knotted at one win apiece after a 3-1 loss in Game 2. A big reason for that is chances have been hard to come by.

And they’re none too pleased about it. Quite frankly, they’re perplexed.

“That’s a good question,” captain Connor McDavid said. “I don’t know (why). That’s a good question.”

The Oilers received two power plays Saturday, the second coming with just 90 seconds remaining and their trailing by a pair of goals.

Though both teams were each called for two minors, the same wide margin favouring the Stars remains because of how Game 1 was called.

The Oilers sent the Stars to the power play three times in regulation in the series opener and then McDavid was whistled for a double-minor for high-sticking Matt Duchene in overtime. The only penalty the Stars received was a bench minor for too many men.

So, it’s a 7-3 lead for Dallas through two games.

The way Oilers defenceman Mattias Ekholm sees it, there needs to be more consistency from the referees.

Ekholm said he has “no idea” why the Oilers haven’t received more calls so far. He pointed to Darnell Nurse’s being sent off for interference on Stars forward Tyler Seguin in the second period Saturday, then the officials’ missing a Stars stick foul on him.

“I look at Darnell’s penalty. Then five minutes later, I get cross-checked right in the same spot in the paint,” he said. “It’s hard. It’s physical. It’s playoff hockey out there.

“It just seems we need to kill more than we get power plays. Whether that’s just the way it has happened or not, I don’t know. It’s not up to me to really comment on that, but obviously, we need to work harder to draw more penalties.”

The Stars were 11th best in the NHL with 388 minutes spent on the penalty kill in the regular season. The Oilers, meanwhile, spent nearly 56 minutes more on the PK compared with the power play. That was the third-worst discrepancy in the league, ahead of just two bottom-feeders — the San Jose Sharks and the Anaheim Ducks.

That’s changed in the playoffs. The Oilers have had 43 power plays compared with 42 short-handed attempts.

The calls have dried up through two contests against the Stars, though.

That hurts them because both special teams have been elite. Their penalty kill has allowed just three goals on 42 opponents’ tries. But it’s their all-world power play that’s most affected.

Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch was asked why he felt his team has had so much trouble drawing penalties in this series. He smiled, seemingly knowing he’d have to tread carefully with his answer.

He paused for 11 seconds before he began speaking.

“I’ve heard a lot about the past — being a spectator, not a part of the NHL, not as a coach — (how) in the NHL sometimes the standard gets changed a little bit,” Knoblauch said. “They would definitely want to make sure it’s a penalty, where, in the regular season, some things get let go.

“That’s obviously unfortunate for us. We’ve got a very good power play, and we win a lot of games on the power play. It’s unfortunate for us that it’s tougher to draw penalties in the playoffs than it is the regular season.

“The standard is the same for both teams. I’m not saying it’s unfair for us, but we would like the same standard.”

The Oilers claimed Game 1 on the strength of three five-on-five goals, including McDavid’s double-overtime winner. But it’s difficult to envision a scenario in which they move on to the Stanley Cup Final without their power play at least contributing.

No team has ever had a more effective power play than the Oilers’ 32.4 percent clip since the NHL started tracking the stat in 1977-78. Naturally, they slipped this season but were still fourth in the league at 26.3 percent.

The Oilers scored on half — nine of 18 — chances as they steamrolled the Los Angeles Kings in the first round. Though they endured an uncharacteristic streak of 10 goal-less chances against the Vancouver Canucks, they still finished six of their 22 tries, and the last one — a Ryan Nugent-Hopkins goal — won them the series.

Their power play doesn’t just give them a shot to win; it often is the reason they come out on top. They haven’t had much of a chance to work their magic so far against the Stars. They’re 0-for-3.

“It’s early on,” said winger Connor Brown, who netted Edmonton’s lone goal. “They check with their feet. They’re a pretty disciplined club. But we can do a better job of holding on to the puck and creating some momentum, so they got to chase us around a little bit. That’s usually when you get your calls.”

Brown took a different tack than the other Oilers who spoke after the loss. It was clear McDavid, Ekholm and Knoblauch were irritated as they chose their words wisely.

It all factored into a frustrating night overall for the Oilers.

McDavid and Leon Draisaitl were held off the scoresheet. That ended Draisaitl’s perfect scoring run; he had points in all 13 postseason games before Saturday. That’s the third-longest streak in a single playoff year in franchise history, after Wayne Gretzky (16 games) and Mark Messier (14 games), both in 1988.

The game was right there for the taking and the Oilers let it slip away, failing on a chance to take a 2-0 series lead.

The difference was Mason Marchment’s tipping in a point shot from Ryan Suter at 3:41 of the third period before Esa Lindell added an empty net goal.

The flow of play at five-on-five was basically a wash. It might have even been in the Oilers’ favour. Total shots on goal were 29-25 for Edmonton.

“It’s going to be tight. It’s going to be hard,” Ekholm said. “It’s supposed to be this way. We’ve played these guys a bunch of times and they know how we play, and it’s going to be a tactical match.

“You’ve just got to make sure you’re on the winning side of it. We weren’t, so we’ll regroup and come back better.”

Let’s just say a few more power plays sure wouldn’t hurt their chances of doing that. Just ask them.