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EDMONTON, Alberta — Jason Robertson completed his first career playoff hat trick midway through the third period as the Dallas Stars defeated the Edmonton Oilers 5-3 on Monday night to take a 2-1 lead in the NHL’s Western Conference finals.

Wyatt Johnston and Miro Heiskanen, into the empty net, had the other goals for Dallas. Jake Oettinger made 26 saves. Roope Hintz, Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn had two assists each.

“You want to help the team win, you want to score goals,” said Robertson, who hadn’t found the back of the net since Game 6 of the first round. “Scoring one gives you confidence … like a domino effect.”

Connor McDavid, with a goal and an assist to give him 100 career playoff points, Zach Hyman and Adam Henrique all scored for Edmonton, which got 17 stops from Stuart Skinner.

“A real good start,” McDavid said. “I’m not sure where those 10, 15 minutes come from, but it’s as bad as it’s been throughout the playoffs.”

Dallas, which reestablished home-ice advantage with the victory after owning the league’s best regular-season road record, is now 6-1 in the playoffs away from American Airlines Center.

The Stars saw the return of Hintz, their No. 1 center who hadn’t dressed since suffering an upper-body injury in Game 4 of the second round against the Colorado Avalanche.

“We gutted it out while [Hintz] was out of the lineup,” Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said. “It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t as pretty as it was tonight when he was out, but we still found ways. Guys still found ways to contribute without a key player.

“That’s what I’m most proud of. It was great that he was back tonight, but I’m really proud of how we handled his absence.”

Game 4 of the best-of-seven series is set for Wednesday night in Edmonton.

Henrique returned to the lineup after sitting out seven of Edmonton’s previous eight games with a suspected ankle injury.

“You never know what a player’s going to bring after a stretch of not playing,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said after Monday’s loss. “Usually, it’s very hard for a player to find their game, but I don’t think he had any problems.

“He made a lot of nice plays, obviously with the goal. I thought he was pretty good on the faceoff, and it was nice having him.”

After the Oilers dominated the opening 20 minutes and the Stars grabbed momentum back in the second period, Robertson snapped a 3-3 tie at 11:54 of the third on a jam play that squeezed past Skinner.

Edmonton pulled the goaltender late looking to force overtime, but Heiskanen iced it into an empty net with 1:55 left in regulation.

The Oilers came out flying in the first period inside a deafening Rogers Place.

McDavid wheeled out of the corner and fired a shot that went in off Hyman just 2:02 into the game as he battled with Stars defenseman Ryan Suter for position in front for Hyman’s NHL-leading 13th goal of these playoffs.

The Oilers went ahead 2-0 at 7:37 of the first when blueliner Mattias Ekholm circled the Stars’ net and fired a pass for McDavid, who won a battle with Seguin for the puck in the crease for the superstar captain’s fourth goal of the postseason and second of the series, after his double-overtime score in Game 1.

The Stars pushed back in impressive fashion coming out of the intermission.

Robertson blasted his fourth goal of the playoffs at 5:35 of the second on a one-timer past Skinner’s ear before shoveling another upstairs on the Edmonton goaltender at 8:05 as Dallas came in waves against the disjointed and flat home side.

Johnston then made it 3-2 just 63 seconds later to complete the barrage with his eighth in front of a stunned crowd.

The three goals in 3:33 were the quickest trio in Dallas postseason history since moving to Texas in 1993.

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Draisaitl, Hellebuyck, Kucherov are Hart finalists

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Draisaitl, Hellebuyck, Kucherov are Hart finalists

Edmonton Oilers star forward Leon Draisaitl, Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck and Tampa Bay Lightning standout Nikita Kucherov were named finalists for the 2024-25 Hart Memorial Trophy on Thursday.

The award is presented “to the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team” and voted on by members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association.

Draisaitl, 29, led the NHL in goals (52), tied for third in points (106) and was a career-best plus-32 in 71 games this season. He won the award in 2019-20 and is a two-time finalist.

Hellebuyck, 31, led the league in wins (47), goals-against average (2.00) and shutouts (eight) and was second in save percentage (.925) among goalies to play at least 25 games. The Vezina Trophy finalist as the best goaltender in the NHL is a first-time Hart finalist.

Kucherov, 31, led the NHL in scoring for the second consecutive season with 121 points (37 goals, 84 assists). He won the Hart Trophy in 2018-19 and is a three-time finalist.

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Sources: Rangers close to hiring Sullivan as coach

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Sources: Rangers close to hiring Sullivan as coach

The New York Rangers are in advanced contract talks to make former Pittsburgh Penguins coach Mike Sullivan their next head coach, sources told ESPN’s Emily Kaplan and Kevin Weekes on Thursday.

The deal is expected to be one of the richest coaching contracts in NHL history, the sources said.

Sullivan would head to New York in a move that is coming together three days after he left his job with Pittsburgh, where he coached for 10 seasons and won back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017.

The Penguins have missed the playoffs for the past three seasons amid a retooling of the roster.

David Quinn, Sullivan’s top assistant in Pittsburgh, is not expected to join him in New York. Quinn will be a candidate for other head coaching vacancies, including Pittsburgh’s, according to sources.

John Tortorella is a strong possibility to rejoin the Rangers organization. Sullivan, Quinn and Tortorella were on the coaching staff for Team USA at Four Nations.

In New York, Sullivan would replace Peter Laviolette, who was fired after the Rangers didn’t make the postseason for the first time since 2021.

Sullivan was selected by the Rangers in the 1987 draft but never played for New York, choosing to stay in college at Boston University before going on to an 11-year NHL playing career with four teams.

Sullivan, 57, previously served as a Rangers assistant coach from 2009 to 2013 on Tortorella’s staff. He also was the head coach of the Boston Bruins for the 2003-04 and 2005-06 seasons.

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Injured Scheifele won’t travel with Jets for G6

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Injured Scheifele won't travel with Jets for G6

Winnipeg Jets coach Scott Arniel said Thursday that star center Mark Scheifele will not travel with team ahead of Game 6 against the St. Louis Blues.

Scheifele will remain in Winnipeg after he missed the second and third periods of his team’s 5-3 victory Wednesday against the Blues in Game 5 of the Western Conference quarterfinals.

“You’re hoping for the best that maybe he wakes up today and things are better,” Arniel told reporters before the team flight to St. Louis. “But right now, he won’t be making the trip, and we’ll just go day-to-day moving forward.”

With 13:51 remaining in the opening period, the Jets were in the Blues’ zone when Scheifele had just played the puck along the half wall. That’s when he was instantly checked by Blues captain Brayden Schenn. Scheifele appeared to be concentrating on the puck and looked as if he did not see Schenn, who connected with the top half of Scheifele’s chest and knocked him down to the ice.

Schenn was given a two-minute minor for interference and another two-minute minor for roughing.

A little more than 10 minutes later, Scheifele was involved in another physical sequence. He was just about to reach the Blues’ zone when forward Radek Faksa also checked him and appeared to have struck Scheifele in the same area as the previous hit from Schenn.

Scheifele finished the first period, but Arniel spoke to the officials as both teams were entering the dressing room before first intermission. Blues coach Jim Montgomery confirmed with reporters after the game that Arniel spoke to the officials about the Schenn hit before sharing his thoughts.

“Let’s make it clear: Fifty-five got hurt from the Faksa hit,” Montgomery said. “He played six minutes after the Schenn hit. He didn’t come back after he got rocked by Faksa.”

Upon hearing Montgomery’s comments, Arniel had some thoughts of his own.

“I didn’t know Monty got his medical degree and can say how our player got hurt. He’s way off base and should not make that comment,” Arniel told reporters. “There’s some things that have been going on in this series and that was a repeat of what we’ve seen before: A player leaving his feet and then hitting a player in a very unprotected spot. Like hitting him in the sense, almost blindsiding him. Not happy with how the call was made. A two-minute minor. Not even looking at it is what I was upset about.

“It is something we have talked to the league about for five games.”

On Thursday, Arniel was asked if Scheifele was in concussion protocol.

“I’m not going down that road,” Arniel said.

It’s possible that the Jets could once again turn to Vladislav Namestnikov like they did in Game 5 and elevate him to the top line. The second-line center would take Scheifele’s place on the first line alongside Kyle Connor and Gabriel Vilardi.

Namestnikov, who had 11 goals and 38 points in 78 regular-season games, had his strongest game of the postseason in Game 5. He finished with a goal and two points while logging 17:15 of ice time.

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