Richard Bachman, who started his pro career in the Dallas Stars organization, may have dealt his former team a major blow to its playoff hopes on Friday.
Now with the Edmonton Oilers, Bachman stopped all 29 shots he faced, and the Oilers shut out the Stars 4-0 in a costly loss for Dallas, which had been red-hot coming into this game.
The Stars are now down to seven games remaining in their schedule. They had won four straight prior to Friday and were trying feverishly to get into the race, even at the last minute. Now they’re eight points back of the Winnipeg Jets for the final Wild Card spot in the West.
They gave up a goal to Jordan Eberle and the Oilers 33 seconds into the game. The Stars continued to put the pressure on Bachman but couldn’t score.
That came back to haunt the Stars.
The Oilers broke the game wide open with three goals in the final 11 minutes of regulation time. Andrew Miller, 26 years old and playing in his fifth career NHL game, scored his first ever NHL goal on a penalty shot to cap the win for Edmonton.