Spezza’s hat trick lifts Stars over Oilers

Jason Spezza scored three goals, including the tiebreaker late in the third period, and the Dallas Stars spoiled Connor McDavid’s first NHL goal with a 4-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night.

Spezza’s go-ahead goal for a 3-2 lead with 4:30 remaining came moments after Kari Lehtonen stopped Nail Yakupov on a breakaway. Lehtonen made his season debut after backing up Antti Niemi in the first two games.

McDavid, selected No. 1 overall in the June draft, scored in the second period to pull the Oilers even at 2 after they had fallen behind 2-0.

Anders Nilsson made 48 saves in his first appearance for Edmonton, but he couldn’t stop Spezza when the Dallas forward took a dump-off pass from Antoine Roussel in the slot.

McDavid almost scored Edmonton’s first goal when he appeared to tip a shot by defenseman Oscar Klefbom, who got credit for the goal.

But McDavid didn’t have to wait much longer, redirecting a long shot by Andrej Sekera past Lehtonen less than 2 minutes later midway through the second period.

The quick scoring burst ended a 90-minute home scoreless streak to start the season for the Stars, who got a shutout from Niemi in the season opener. Lehtonen, the starter for five seasons in Dallas, finished with 26 saves.

The Stars had 52 shots, their most since Feb. 3, 1990, in a 7-6 loss to Philadelphia. Spezza finished off the hat trick with an empty-net goal.

Spezza opened the scoring late in the first period and Jamie Benn, last season’s Art Ross Trophy winner as the NHL’s top scorer, put Dallas up 2-0 by easily beating Nilsson on a wraparound goal early in the second.

This story was originally published October 13, 2015 at 10:58 PM with the headline "Spezza’s hat trick lifts Stars over Oilers."