Stars ignite for eight goals, shattering Ducks' streak and showcasing explosive offense. Top lines deliver, securing a dominant win.
It seemed like Dallas did just about everything right in their 8-3 clobbering of the Anaheim Ducks on Friday night.
The Stars exploded for a four-goal first period and never looked back en route to tying their biggest offensive output of the season. Incidentally, that other game was also an 8-3 win in Edmonton against a good Oilers team.
While it may not have come as much of a surprise against the Ducks teams of years past, this blowout came against a team tied for first place in the Pacific Division and ranked seventh overall in the league. It was a bit of payback for the seven goals that the Stars gave up against Anaheim in Dallas in their first meeting.
Oskar Back scored his first non-tipped shot of the season to open the scoring, but the Ducks quacked back with a goal from Ryan Poehling to make it 1-1 early on in the first period. Then, Dallas opened the floodgates, putting four of the first six shots in the back of the net and then adding three more in the second period to post a 7-1 lead at the end of two periods.
The top line, with Mavrik Borque starting on the right wing of Roope Hintz and Jason Robertson, contributed six points, including a goal from Hintz and two tallies from Robertson. Mikko Rantanen, Miro Heiskanen and Radek Faksa all had two assists and Thomas Harley had a goal and an assist. Sam Steel and Adam Erne potted depth goals, and Ilya Lyubushkin scored his first goal of the season and only the second in his two years with the Stars.
Calder Trophy candidate Bennett Sennecke and former member of the Stars 'Finnish Mafia' Mikael Granlund scored the two Ducks goals in the third period. It was only Granlund's fifth goal of the season, as his point production has dropped off from playing next to Rantanen and Hintz for the majority of last season with Dallas.
Casey DeSmith picked up his ninth win of the year in 13 appearances, and once again cruised to an easy win in the second half of a back-to-back. It was a rare appearance where even if he did not stand on his head and make a ton of tough saves, it would not have mattered much. The team was surely happy to give some extra support for one of his tough road starts after all he has done for them game in and game out.
The Stars now have to jet all the way back to Dallas and rest up quickly, as the Toronto Maple Leafs visit for a pre-Christmas tilt at the American Airlines Center on Sunday evening.
News and notes:
The franchise record for most points taken in the back half of a back-to-back was extended to 12 games in a row.
Robertson got jumped by Frank Vatrano late in the game after the two exchanged a cross check and slash. Vatrano received a misconduct and penalty on the play, and could receive a fine based on how far he took his actions.
Rantanen is now tied with Leon Draisaitl for fourth in the league with 48 points, and is third with 34 assists. He is still a -1 with all of his power play production skewing that number. Interestingly, his former teammate Nathan MacKinnon leads the league with 59 points but is a staggering +43.
Rantanen also still leads the league in penalty minutes taken with 69, tied with Logan Stanley of the Winnipeg Jets.
Robertson is tied with Kirill Kaprizov for third in the league with 22 goals, still trailing MacKinnon and Boston's Morgan Geekie.
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