Duchene's patience pays off with goal in Game 1 win against Oilers

DALLAS – When Matt Duchene’s shot hit teammate Roope Hintz in the backside instead of the back of the net, it looked like one more bit of evidence that the Dallas Stars forward was snakebit.

When he got a second chance on a rebound, however, he didn’t miss, and the veteran’s frustrating goal-less streak was over.

“I mean, the first one that hit him, I’m like, this is par for the course for this postseason for me. If there’s something that could go wrong, it did. Then it comes back and it goes in. I couldn’t believe I still had room. Kind of a funny one, but yeah, it feels good,” Duchene said after scoring his first of these Stanley Cup Playoffs in the Stars’ 6-3 win against the Edmonton Oilers in Game 1 of the Western Conference Final at American Airlines Center on Wednesday.

Game 2 is here on Friday (8 p.m. ET; ESPN, ESPN+, SN, TVAS, CBC).

Duchene had five assists in 13 games coming into this series but was struggling to find that elusive first goal. He had chances and was around the net quite a bit through the first two series. But the finish just wasn’t there.

It was Duchene’s first playoff goal since Game 6 of the 2024 Western Conference Second Round, when his double-overtime goal helped the Stars eliminate his former team, the Colorado Avalanche, 2-1.

“Yah, we’re all happy for him,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “I mean, you can say whatever you want, but that weighs on a guy like that, particularly a scorer. So, great for him to get one and it was due. Like you said, he’s been around it quite a bit, just hasn’t gone in. So, hopefully the flood gates will open now.”

The 34-year-old capped an amazing run of three consecutive power plays in the third period for the Stars, part of five unanswered goals for Dallas in the final 20 minutes. After scoring, Duchene raised his arms in celebration as teammates hugged him.

It wasn’t the most orthodox goal, but he’ll take it.

“At the end of the day I’ve talked about my process personally and just trying to focus on that. Things like that come if you stick with it. As a team it’s the same thing and if you roll out our A-game individually and as a team more often than not, you’re going to have results and you have to stick with it,” Duchene said.

“Fortunately, that one bounced for me tonight. Hopefully there’s more of that to come and less of me hitting my own teammate in the (butt).”

Duchene now has 37 points (13 goals, 24 assists) in 65 career postseason games.

Duchene talked about the big picture, how this was a great start for the Stars, and it certainly was. But personally, the goal-less streak was certainly becoming frustrating for him. He talked about it in the second round against the Winnipeg Jets.

“I’m doing a lot of good things out there,” he said after Game 5, a 4-0 loss to the Jets. “You make five or six plays for Grade-As and it doesn’t go, what can you do? Just keep going. It’ll go at some point.”

On Wednesday, it went.

“Yeah, that's great, he's been working hard to get that one,” Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen said. “Really happy for him, and for sure it gets him more confident from that. Probably going to be a (few) more goals from him.”

The Stars hope that’s the case. So does Duchene. But it’ll be even better if the wins keep coming.

“You score a goal and help your team win, and it feels great. The wins are the best feeling this time of year, but they’re short-lived and the losses are short-lived. It’s a great comeback win for us,” he said.

“I think every team we’ve played so far has a very different makeup to them and a different feel and there’s things that we can do better. The nice thing is when you win a game in the playoffs without your A-game, you want to take it and run with it. We want to be better next game.”