Despite crushing injury news, Dallas' stellar goaltending and opportunistic scoring fueled a dominant 3-0 shutout victory over the Devils.
After the devastating injury news regarding Tyler Seguin dropped early Wednesday, the Dallas Stars showed resilience in a 3-0 shutout of the New Jersey Devils in Newark.
Seguin was deemed to have torn his ACL Tuesday night against the Rangers, likely ending his season and even putting any hopes of playoff opportunities in jeopardy. It was a crushing blow to a team that has been riddled with injuries all season, now losing an integral piece to their top line.
Dallas Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger (29) and center Radek Faksa (12) celebrate their win over the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-Imagn ImagesThe team responded with a brilliant performance, led by goaltender Jake Oettinger's second shutout of the season. Defenseman Miro Heiskanen opened the scoring in the second period, which was fitting considering the defensive performance Dallas had shown up until then to shut down a strong Devils offense.
Jason Robertson stayed red hot with another goal on a perfect tape-to-tape pass from Esa Lindell to set him up at the side of the net, and the Stars went into the second period leading 2-0.
Mikko Rantanen added a third period goal on a second Lindell assist, this one a shot from the point that Rantanen tipped down and shoved into the net after it leaked past Devils goaltender Jacob Markstrom. New Jersey couldn't muster much and never even pulled Markstrom for an extra attacker near the end of the game.
The Stars come back to Dallas with three of four points secured from their quick road trip, and now have a day to recover before taking on the San Jose Sharks at home on Friday.
News and notes:
Dallas has now taken points from 11 straight games on the second half of a back-to-back. What was once an Achilles heel for the team is now a strength thanks to great tandem goaltending from Oettinger and Casey DeSmith.
Oettinger was actually scheduled to start Tuesday against New York, but was feeling under the weather so the teams switched up the order. Safe to say Oettinger felt fine Wednesday.
Another streak for the Stars set a franchise record on Wednesday. Dallas is at 12 road games in a row with at least a point secured in each (8-0-4). Those performances are putting the Stars right on the heels of Colorado for best team in the league.
Three of the Stars top five defensemen from Opening Night are out of the lineup. Even with the losses, the defensive corps has been excellent, and it culminated in their best performance yet in the 3-0 shutout.
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