Stars Escape With Narrow Win over Sharks

It took 65 minutes and a shootout, but the Dallas Stars finally clinched a win over the San Jose Sharks 3-2 Tuesday night.

The league's worst team from last season was missing the top overall draft pick Macklin Celebrini, who had landed on the injured reserve prior to the Sharks hitting the road for the first time this season. But San Jose still gave Dallas all they could handle, never giving the Stars the lead throughout the entire game. Three shootout goals in a row from the Stars gave them the narrow victory to remain undefeated.

To begin the first period, it was clear that the Stars were playing their third game in four nights, while the Sharks hadn't even played three games all season yet. San Jose had more pep in their step from the jump. They immediately started creating offensive chances and made it difficult for the Stars to get anything going. 

With 11 minutes remaining in the opening period, Barclay Goodrow was called for a double-minor high-stick on Logan Stankoven. Going into the power-play, the shots on goal were 7-2 in favor of the Sharks, and this was the perfect opportunity for Dallas to get their game going. The Stars were generating looks, but the Sharks were adamant about keeping the middle of the ice clogged up and preventing any high danger shots on goal. Stankoven and Wyatt Johnston had the best chances, but both of them were fanned on. Dallas was unable to convert in the four minutes but took the momentum and dominated the rest of the period. Although the score remained scoreless going into the second period, the Stars caught up in shots on goal and now led 10-9. 

The second period was action packed on both ends of the ice. Offseason signing Tyler Toffoli opened the scoring for both teams when a turnover by Jason Robertson led to a breakaway towards Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger. Toffoli got off a good shot from a wrister that beat Oettinger in between the glove and the pad to put the Sharks ahead 1-0. This was the first time the Stars have trailed at home all season and it broke a scoreless streak of 147 minutes. 

The score evened up not long after when Stankoven got a puck over to Mason Marchment, who was able to get a quick shot-pass through the middle of the ice and a crashing Matt Duchene tapped it home on the back door. It was Duchene's first goal of the season, and he immediately pointed to Marchment to applaud him for the beautiful setup.

Shortly after, the Sharks were at it again when Nico Sturm broke up a pass in the high slot, setting up a breakaway. The Sharks were preying on the high pass across the blue line and the strategy finally paid off. Sturm ended up whiffing on the shot, putting it wide of the net, but Ty Dellandrea scores on his old friend Oettinger with a fluttering puck on the rebound. Oettinger was flailing and on the ground still from selling out to stop Sturm's shot, so he couldn't react fast enough to get in position, and the back-check didn't do a good enough job tying up the former Stars forward. San Jose regained the lead 2-1.

Just as it seemed to be getting nervy for Dallas, the Stars answered with another tying goal exactly two minutes later. The top line connected on a tic-tac-toe pass between Johnston, Jason Robertson and Roope Hintz, who ripped it from the slot over the glove of Sharks goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood. The period finished deadlocked 2-2.

The Stars found themselves in a hole at the beginning of the third period with two back-to-back penalties resulting in a 5-on-3 penalty kill. However, the Stars allowed almost no pressure in a very dominant short-handed penalty kill. This gave the crowd some needed life on a Tuesday night, and gave the Stars momentum throughout the third period. Dallas was getting some offensive chances, but the momentum was broken up with yet another penalty called on the Stars, this time on Duchene. Though the Stars had some great chances in their 12 shots on goal of the period, they also held off the Sharks, who created a handful of chances of their own. Both Oettinger and Blackwood held their own, and at the end of regulation, the score remained 2-2.

In the first period of extra hockey the Stars had played year, Dallas stayed poised but didn't create many chances, mostly cycling the puck while looking for the perfect moment to pounce. In the prior two seasons under head coach Pete DeBoer, Dallas struggled in the 3-on-3 overtime, but the strategy changed last year to a more patient approach, and that was evident again Tuesday. The Sharks managed to get one excellent opportunity to win the game, but Dallas was bailed out by Oettinger. At the end of five minutes, the Stars only had one shot on goal in OT but held on long enough to go to a shootout. 

First up in the shootout was Robertson, DeBoer's go-to leadoff man. He nailed it top bar to put Dallas in the drivers seat for the rest of the shootout. The Sharks first shooter was rookie Will Smith, who Oettinger was able to parry away. Next up for the Stars was Duchene, who found the five-hole through a now leaky Blackwood. The second shooter for the Sharks was Mikael Granlund, who fooled Oettinger and went against the grain to finally get San Jose on the board during the shootout. However, it wouldn't matter because Johnston was up next for Dallas and he would end it with a goal, and Dallas finished 3-for-3 against Blackwood for the win.

The Stars turn around quickly and head to the nation's capital where they face the Washington Capitals on Thursday night. The Caps beat the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday for their first win of the season.

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