The Dallas Stars end their five game home-stand against the Pittsburgh Penguins with a 4-2 win.
The Dallas Stars added to the recent misery for the Pittsburgh Penguins, handing them a 4-2 defeat in Dallas Friday night in a game where the Stars dominated the middle of the ice.
The Stars dropped the first two games of the five-game home-stand, but ended it on a three-game win streak where they outscored their opponents 13-5.
The Penguins wasted no time opening up the scoring less than three minutes into the game. An awkward, falling Michael Bunting was able to ping-pong it in between Jake Oettinger's legs and into the back of the net. For the first several minutes of the first period, the Stars were unable to put anything together until they finally created some chaos in front of the net. Joe Pavelski was able to shovel the puck over Tristan Jarry amidst the chaos for his 25th goal of the season.
The second period was all Stars. Jamie Benn potted his 14th and 15th goal only 1:17 apart. The first one came on a power-play goal after a tripping call on Rickard Rakell. The second one came from a great defensive play by Thomas Harley and a slick pass from Logan Stankoven, where Benn then had to show patience at the door step while a sliding Penguins player blocked the path to the net. His attempted pass to Wyatt Johnston deflected off the stick of John Ludwig and found its way to the back of the net.
In the third period, the Stars started strong. Sam Steel tallied his eighth goal of the season thanks to some strong forechecking by Mason Marchment and a puck battle win against the boards by Craig Smith. After the fourth unanswered goal, the Penguins pulled Jarry. Frustrated, he destroyed his stick on the goal before leaving the ice. After the goalie change, the Penguins finally woke up and started to push back. Rakell was left all alone out in front of the crease and chipped one past Oettinger.
Quick observations from the game:
- It is no secret that Oettinger has struggled at times throughout the season, but in the last two games, he has kept each team at two goals, with a save percentage of .915%. Perhaps this is the beginning of him returning to form.
- While Tyler Seguin was out, the Stars called up Stankoven to fill the offensive void, but with the return of Seguin, the Stars have what is probably the deepest forward group in the league. Every single line has been rolling. Three of the four lines scored tonight, including the fourth line, who have been hot as of late.
- With the addition of Chris Tanev, Esa Lindell no longer has to be the defensive anchor for his pairing. For years, even dating back to his days with John Klingberg, Lindell has taken the back seat offensively and let his partner handle it while he handled the defensive side of things. Now with Tanev, Lindell isn't being relied on to play all the defense and that showed tonight, as Lindell was very involved in the offense and even joined in on some rushes. Though he did not score, it was not for a lack of trying. He led the team in individual expected goals.
Per hockeyviz.comThe Stars now head to Arizona to start a four game road trip. They will face the Arizona Coyotes, San Jose Sharks, Vancouver Canucks and Seattle Kraken. The Stars are still very much in the race for first in the Central Division. They currently sit in second place behind the Colorado Avalanche, though both teams have 95 points.
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