Despite losing their star player and a two-goal deficit, Dallas fought back valiantly, snagging a crucial point before falling in a shootout.
The Dallas Stars faced plenty of adversity on Saturday night in Calgary, losing their best player on a boarding penalty that resulted in a game misconduct and trailing by two goals in the third period.
Despite that, the Stars managed to tie the game late in the third period and get a valuable point against the Flames, eventually losing in the fourth round of the shootout. Nazem Kadri scored the shootout winner for Calgary while Devin Cooley stopped Roope Hintz to preserve the win for the Flames.
Calgary took a 2-0 lead at the start of the third period while on the power play resulting from Mikko Rantanen's five minute boarding major penalty late in the second period that injured Matt Coronato. Coronato scored Calgary's first goal in the first period on the power play, which had a rare productive night for the 31st ranked man advantage.
Missing their best player, the Stars had to find a way to come back from down two goals, something the team has been able to do with surprising regularity this season.
And despite Rantanen being the Stars best player, Jason Robertson has been scoring as if he has that title recently. Robertson brought the Stars to life with his 10th goal in the last six games, rocketing him up to the top echelon of goal scorers in the league with 13 on the season. Then, Hintz tied the game with under four minutes left in regulation. Dallas had to work hard to beat Cooley, who looked nearly unbeatable for the first two periods while making his first home start for Calgary.
The Stars had a huge opportunity to win the game with an extended 5-on-3 at the end of regulation, but failed to capitalize. One of the penalties extended into overtime, and both teams ended up skating 4-on-4 after the penalty ended for the entire five minute OT period. There was never a whistle to take the teams back to the traditional 3-on-3, and the shootout came with little fanfare during overtime. It was a perfect reminder why the league decided to switch to the 3-on-3 format years ago.
Morgan Frost and Robertson both scored the opening tally in the first round of the shootout, followed by two misses by each team before Kadri gave Calgary the win with a smooth backhand after waiting out Casey DeSmith.
Dallas now has two days off before playing Edmonton up the road in northern Alberta, a rare occurrence for a team playing the two Alberta teams one after another. The Stars had a back-to-back with the two teams last season, which is much more common. Instead, Dallas will head to Seattle for a back-to-back after playing the Oilers on Tuesday.
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