Dallas Stars Demolish Minnesota in a Wild Game

The Dallas Stars scored enough goals to equal a touchdown with the extra point as they beat the Minnesota Wild 7-1 tonight. Dallas improved to (18-14-5) and moved one point ahead of Minnesota (18-15-4) in the competitive Central Division of the Western Conference. The Stars will travel to Chicago to take on the Blackhawks tomorrow night to complete their back-to-back.

Recap

The first period was all Dallas as they kept the play mainly in the offensive zone and held the Wild to five shots on goal. The only scoring of the period came from Vernon Fiddler during a Dallas Stars power play at 5:34 of the first. Kari Lehtonen continued his impressive play and had answers to all five of the shots against as the Stars took their one goal lead into the first intermission.

The second period was wild to say the least, but the Stars continued their control of the game. Colton Sceviour scored on a slapshot 5:03 into the period and was followed by another Fiddler goal about a minute and a half later. Tyler Seguin got in on the scoring frenzy as he got his league-leading 26th goal of the season on a wrist shot a little more than a minute after Dallas went up 3-0. The Wild elected to pull goalie Darcy Kuemper in favor of Niklas Backstrom after Seguin scored to make it 4-0 Dallas. Then, while Trevor Daley was in the box for high-sticking Jamie Benn intercepted a pass along the boards from Backstrom that was intended for Ryan Suter to feed Erik Cole. Cole then shot the puck into the wide open net despite a desperate Backstrom diving to make the save to give the Stars a 5-0 advantage 11:15 into the period. A minute later a Wild forward ran over Daley in the Stars’ defensive zone that caused multiple fights to occur. From the brawl came ten penalties including four fighting majors, two ten minute misconducts, a ten minute aggressor penalty, a roughing minor and a minor for instigating. Out of all of that came a full two-minute 5-on-3 power play for the Stars, but they failed to convert on their numerous chances. Dallas maintained their 5-0 lead until John Klingberg was wrongly accused of holding the stick when impeding a Wild breakaway and Minnesota’s Thomas Vanek scored to cut the Stars’ lead to four. Dallas, however, restored their five goal advantage with Antoine Roussel‘s ninth goal of the season. They took their 6-1 lead into the second intermission.

The third period was much more calm than the second and it saw offensive zone time for both teams. The only conversion of the period, however, was a late goal by Brett Ritchie from Travis Moen and Jamie Oleksiak to put the Stars up 7-1. Ritchie has an impressive three points (2G, 1A) in his first two NHL games and looks to be making a case for himself to remain in the line-up. Dallas maintained their six goal differential and beat the Wild to gain two crucial points in the standings.

Thoughts and Observations

Converting on Chances

You don’t score seven goals in a hockey game by missing the net, and the Stars avoided doing just that. They got goals from six different players, while fourteen ended the night with at least a point. This game, as well as their New Years Eve win over Arizona, proves that the Dallas Stars have depth scoring and it doesn’t always have to be Benn or Seguin getting the goals. Not only is that a bright spot for this game, but down the line it is an important confidence boost within the room to know that games can be won without immense offensive outbursts by the elite duo.

Brick Wall

Kari Lehtonen has been playing as an elite goalie of late and it shows in the play of the team overall. He went more than six and a half periods, that’s 130+ minutes, without giving up a goal against and even when the Wild scored it was on the man advantage. Lehtonen and the Stars haven’t given up an even strength goal since the game last Monday against the New York Rangers at 16:46 of the first period. Considering the light workload he had tonight it wouldn’t be a shock if Lehtonen was in net tomorrow night versus the Hawks.

Buying In

Overall the success for Dallas lately has come from buying into the defensive system Lindy Ruff so desperately wanted them to employ earlier this season. Every player is working to back check when there’s an odd man rush in Lehtonen’s direction, the defensemen are communicating to get the puck out of the zone, and forwards and defensemen alike are helping clear out rebounds in front of Kari. More than that, though, is the defensive plays by the elite, skilled Dallas forwards. Jamie Benn blocked a shot* from the point in the first period tonight while killing a penalty, Jason Spezza attempted to block a shot that was fanned on early in the third, and Seguin dove to recover a puck he failed to get out of the zone late in the game. When three of the highest paid Stars are blocking shots and being defensive-minded in their play it’s a sign that the team is moving in the right direction as well as an indication that everyone has bought into the system of Dallas Stars hockey.

*It should be noted that Jamie Benn went off the ice for the blocked shot that appeared to hit his foot. He briefly left the game to go to the room, but returned before the conclusion of the first period. No word yet on if he sustained an injury, but he looked to be limping after his return to the bench.

Thanks for reading! Be sure to check back for the preview and post game analysis tomorrow as the Stars take on the Chicago Blackhawks.