Alexander Radulov breaks through against Oilers after cold start with Stars

The sputtering start to Alexander Radulov’s season with the Dallas Stars might’ve seen a breakthrough in their game against the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night. The winger put up a goal and two assists — his first multi-point game of the season — in what was easily his best performance since signing with Dallas over the summer.

Radulov should be one of the Stars’ top wingers, but he found himself on the third line to open the game against the Oilers when coach Ken Hitchcock shook up his lineup. The wake-up call didn’t last long, as Radulov returned to playing with Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin quickly, but it apparently worked.

The Stars’ first goal of the night came when Radulov got behind the defense, protected the puck, and delivered a perfect pass to Benn in the slot.

And then came a couple more points on the power play. For the first one, Radulov received a cross-ice pass from Seguin and absolutely rocketed it top shelf to beat Cam Talbot. There’s not much the goaltender could do to stop this laser.

On the second, Radulov put a puck on net that Benn finished off the rebound.

These are the kinds of plays Dallas envisioned when it signed Radulov to a five-year, $31.25 million contract in July. He’s a fantastic offensive talent who averaged 55 points per 82 games during his NHL career. Playing next to Benn and Seguin, he should be capable of matching or exceeding that total.

The results weren’t there early on, but there were positive indicators. The Stars have put up very good shot attempt numbers with Radulov on the ice, including an even-strength Corsi over 57 percent entering Thursday. He’s also averaged 2.56 shots on goal per game, which would be an NHL career-high for the winger.

So Radulov was close to performing well before, and now he’s had a breakthrough game that could build his confidence and some momentum for the future. The Stars need him playing well, so this was a good sign.