Stars even series with hard-fought win over Oilers in Game 2

The Dallas Stars won the battle of attrition in Game 2 against the Edmonton Oilers, ultimately coming away with a hard-fought 3-1 victory, evening up the Western Conference Final at one game apiece.

Both the Stars and Oilers scored early, but things stayed tight throughout. With the game tied 1-1 only 4:23 into the first period, it remained scoreless for the next 39:18 of game action. That is until Mason Marchment lit the lamp, deflecting home the go-ahead tally at 3:41 of the third period, which proved to be the difference.

After dropping Game 1 in double overtime, the Stars got off to a good start on Saturday. On their first shot of the game, captain Jamie Benn opened the scoring, beating Oilers netminder Stuart Skinner with a wrister at 3:39 of the opening period.

However, the Oilers responded quickly. Only 44 seconds later, Connor Brown batted home a rebound to tie the score at 1-1.

For Brown, it was his second career playoff tally. He only had to wait 2,226 days to get it. While that might sound like a long time, veteran teammate Adam Henrique set the record earlier this postseason, recording a playoff tally after going 4,333 days without one.

Following Brown's tally, the teams stayed knotted at 1-1 through two periods, but the Oilers had the better of the play, minus a few strong shifts from Dallas. After outshooting the Stars by 12 in the first, the Oilers had a 25-15 advantage heading into the third.

In the final period, Dallas turned up the heat. The pressure paid off early, with Marchment scoring the game-winner at 3:41. Overall, the Stars outshot the Oilers 10-4 in the third period.

From there, Jake Oettinger took care of the few chances sent his way before Esa Lindell sealed the game with an empty-netter at 17:57.

For a while, it looked like only a matter of time before Edmonton would take over Game 2. Instead, the Stars battled for 60 minutes and now head to Alberta, having dodged going down 0-2 to Connor McDavid and the high-powered Oilers.

After two games in Dallas solved nothing, one team will take control of the series when it resumes on Monday for Game 3 at 8:30 p.m. ET.