DALLAS (AP) — The Dallas Stars aren't getting shut out on the power play in the Western Conference final against Edmonton this time.
They took full advantage of their opportunities in the third period of Game 1 in this series, with three power-play goals in a game-turning 5:26 span on way to a 6-3 victory Wednesday night, a year after going 0 for 14 in six playoff games against the Oilers.
“It’s great that we got some goals there and hopefully we can keep doing that,” said Miro Heiskanen, whose got the first of the trio only 32 seconds into the final period.
“Happy for our power play. It took a lot of heat last year at this point of the year," coach Pete DeBoer said. "It was the difference tonight for us, so it’s great.″
Mikael Granlund tied it at 3 with his power-play goal and Matt Duchene then put the Stars ahead to stay.
That trio of power-play goals made the Stars the first team in Stanley Cup playoff history to earn multiple wins in regulation of the same postseason after being down two goals in the third period. In Game 7 of the first round against Colorado, Dallas overcame a 2-0 deficit in the third period on way to a 4-2 series-clinching win.
Dallas is only the second team since 1934, when power-play goals were first officially tracked, to have three of them in the opening six minutes of a playoff period. The other was the New York Rangers, with three in the first 4:36 of the third period on way to a 7-2 win over Montreal in Game 1 of the 2014 Eastern Conference final.
While the Stars had that lingering goose egg from last year's West final, then failed to convert on a power play 7 1/2 minutes into this series opener against Edmonton, they have been good on special teams throughout this postseason.
They entered this series ranked third among playoff teams both for converting power plays (30.8%) and killing penalties (86.1%). Their power play was the best among any teams that played more than one round, and the teams better on PKs were Eastern Conference finalists Carolina and Florida.
“The first power play we had was a little bit like the rest of our game. our execution was a little off, we didn’t make great plays with the puck, we didn’t have great support,” DeBoer said. “I thought in the third, we came out and we executed. I think you never know when that switch is going to go.
"Obviously, being at home here for this game, we get that first goal, the crowd gets into it, momentum shifts really quickly. That’s the benefit of being at home here for Game 1.”
AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Edmonton Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner (74) moves the puck as Dallas Stars center Matt Duchene (95) close in during the third period in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals in the NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoffs Wednesday, May 21, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck (37) blocks a shot as center Mason Appleton (22) helps against pressure from Dallas Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen (4) in the first period of Game 6 of a second-round NHL hockey playoff series in Dallas, Saturday, May 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Dallas Stars center Mikael Granlund (64) celebrates a goal with teammates Jason Robertson (21) and Mason Marchment during the third period in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals in the NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoffs against the Edmonton Oilers, Wednesday, May 21, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
JERUSALEM (AP) — Over two dozen families from one of the few remaining Palestinian Bedouin villages in the central West Bank have packed up and fled their homes in recent days, saying harassment by Jewish settlers living in unauthorized outposts nearby has grown unbearable.
The village, Ras Ein el-Auja, was originally home to some 700 people from more than 100 families that have lived there for decades.
Twenty-six families already left on Thursday, scattering across the territory in search of safer ground, say rights groups. Several other families were packing up and leaving on Sunday.
“We have been suffering greatly from the settlers. Every day, they come on foot, or on tractors, or on horseback with their sheep into our homes. They enter people’s homes daily,” said Nayef Zayed, a resident, as neighbors took down sheep pens and tin structures.
Israel's military and the local settler governing body in the area did not respond to requests for comment.
Other residents pledged to stay put for the time being. That makes them some of the last Palestinians left in the area, said Sarit Michaeli, international director at B’Tselem, an Israeli rights group helping the residents.
She said that mounting settler violence has already emptied neighboring Palestinian hamlets in the dusty corridor of land stretching from Ramallah in the West to Jericho, along the Jordanian border, in the east.
The area is part of the 60% of the West Bank that has remained under full Israeli control under interim peace accords signed in the 1990s. Since the war between Israel and Hamas erupted in October 2023, over 2,000 Palestinians — at least 44 entire communities — have been expelled by settler violence in the area, B'Tselem says.
The turning point for the village came in December, when settlers put up an outpost about 50 meters (yards) from Palestinian homes on the northwestern flank of the village, said Michaeli and Sam Stein, an activist who has been living in the village for a month.
Settlers strolled easily through the village at night. Sheep and laundry went missing. International activists had to begin escorting children to school to keep them safe.
“The settlers attack us day and night, they have displaced us, they harass us in every way” said Eyad Isaac, another resident. “They intimidate the children and women.”
Michaeli said she’s witnessed settlers walk around the village at night, going into homes to film women and children and tampering with the village’s electricity.
The residents said they call the police frequently to ask for help — but it seldom arrives. Settlement expansion has been promoted by successive Israeli governments over nearly six decades. But Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government, which has placed settler leaders in senior positions, has made it a top priority.
That growth has been accompanied by a spike in settler violence, much of it carried out by residents of unauthorized outposts. These outposts often begin with small farms or shepherding that are used to seize land, say Palestinians and anti-settlement activists. United Nations officials warn the trend is changing the map of the West Bank, entrenching Israeli presence in the area.
Some 500,000 Israelis have settled in the West Bank since Israel captured the territory, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast war. Their presence is viewed by most of the international community as illegal and a major obstacle to peace. The Palestinians seek all three areas for a future state.
For now, displaced families of the village have dispersed between other villages near the city of Jericho and near Hebron further south, said residents. Some sold their sheep and are trying to move into the cities.
Others are just dismantling their structures without knowing where to go.
"Where will we go? There’s nowhere. We’re scattered,” said Zayed, the resident, “People’s situation is bad. Very bad.”
An Israeli settler herds his flock near his outpost beside the Palestinian village of Ras Ein al-Auja in the West Bank, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
A Palestinian resident of Ras Ein al-Auja village, West Bank burns trash, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Palestinian children play in the West Bank village of Ras Ein al-Auja, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Palestinian residents of Ras Ein al-Auja village, West Bank pack up their belongings and prepare to leave their homes after deciding to flee mounting settler violence, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Palestinian residents of Ras Ein al-Auja village, West Bank pack up their belongings and prepare to leave their homes after deciding to flee mounting settler violence, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
