Olympic medalists return, but injuries plague the Stars. See how they battled through a thin lineup to secure a crucial win.
After three weeks without hockey at the American Airlines Center, the Dallas Stars are back and they faced the Seattle Kraken. There were a lot of in-game kudos for those who returned with medals.
Esa Lindell, Roope Hintz, Miro Heiskanen and Mikko Rantanen all returned with a bronze medal. Thomas Harley won silver after losing to Team USA and Jake Oettinger brought a gold medal back to Texas. While the return from the break was mostly good news, the Stars are dealing with some injuries and had a thin line up against Seattle.
Lian Bischel returned to the line up for the first time since November 30th against the Ottawa Senators. Radek Faksa and Rantanen were injured at the Olympics and Roope Hintz is out injured, forcing the Stars to recall Arttu Hyry from the Texas Stars.
The first period was brutal for the Stars in physicality department, several players took big hits, including Colin Blackwell who was blindsided by Ryan Lindgren. Both players went down the tunnel, Blackwell returned a few minutes later. Blackwell was imperative in the two penalties the Stars had to kill off, the first one for interference by Harley and the second, Jamie Benn was called for holding the stick.
In the last 80 seconds, Wyatt Johnston joined the 30 goal club from a re-direct on a shot by Lindell. The second period started the same way the first period ended, with another goal. This time was a deflection by Matt Duchene on a floater shot towards the net by Harley.
The game started unraveling for the Kraken and the Stars made sure to cash in. Mavrik Bourque got a shot on call that was not secured by Joey Daccord and Sam Steel was able to poke it in for the third goal of the game. However, the Kraken challenged for goal-tender interference. The call looked straight forward on the replay, as Steel did not seem to touch Daccord, who was tucked far into the net. The goal was not overturned, which sent the Stars on the power-play due to a failed challenge.
Another draw, another goal for Wyatt Johnston, this time on the power-play to make it 4-0. The Kraken started to push back a bit but the middle frame would end with a four goal lead for the Stars.
Casey DeSmith's shut out bid was snapped with 13 minutes left to go in the third period. He had an incredible stop after Alexander Petrovic wiffed on a puck creating chaos and the puck fell right to Ryker Evans who put the puck past DeSmtih who was not reset and had no chance. Things started to get chippy after Adam Erne and Jacob Melanson exchanged pleasantries, which resulted in punches being thrown but multiple Stars players. This resulted in the second power-play of the period for the Kraken that the Stars killed off.
Despite a push from the Kraken and a push of their own, the Stars held on to secure the 4-1 win over Seattle. They will face the Nashville Predators at the AAC on Saturday.
Make Sure You Bookmark THN's Dallas Stars site For The Latest News, Exclusive Interviews, Breakdowns, And So Much More.