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Dallas Stars Earn Two Points in Shootout Victory Over Panthers

By Allison Scott

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97. 4. 119. Final. 3

The Dallas Stars (29-26-10) found a way to beat the Florida Panthers (28-23-14) despite surrendering another two-goal lead tonight as they won 4-3 in the shootout. Dallas will continue their five-game road trip when they take on the Tampa Bay Lightning Saturday night.

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Recap

Curtis McKenzie put the Stars up 1-0 just 2:33 into the game off of a nice feed from Jason Demers and Shawn Horcoff. Then at 12:24 McKenzie dropped the gloves against Dmitry Kulikov who was suspended for a hit on Stars forward Tyler Seguin that has sidelined him since February 13th. After the increase in momentum, Horcoff scored on an odd-man rush following a Panthers turn over to put the Stars up 2-0. Florida cut the lead in half at the 17-minute mark of the period with a wrist shot from Brandon Pirri that got passed Kari Lehtonen. The Panthers took a slashing penalty with a little over thirty seconds left in the frame to give Dallas their first man advantage of the game. Dallas took a 2-1 lead and 12-7 advantage in shots into the first intermission.

The Stars had 1:35 of power play time that carried over from the first period, but they were unable to score on their chances. Dallas was plagued by turnovers during the first five minutes of the frame, but got some quality chances on a power play to re-establish offensive zone time. All of that hard work was wasted, however, when Kulikov scored on a breakaway after his penalty expired to tie the game 2-2. Florida took their first lead of the night with a goal by Jonathan Huberdeau that put them up 3-2 and prompted Lindy Ruff to pull Lehtonen in favor of Jhonas Enroth at 12:28. The Panthers took their 3-2 lead into the second intermission despite Dallas leading in shots 22-19.

The third period saw a plethora of excellent saves at both ends. Enroth was sharp early while killing a penalty to Stars defenseman Alex Goligoski for the Stars, while Dan Ellis made a key save on Goligoski’s subsequent breakaway after the penalty expired for Florida. Dallas fought back to tie the game with offensive pressure and succeeded when Goligoski blasted a wrist shot from the top of the circle to beat Ellis and make it 3-3. The two teams were tied at the end of regulation 3-3 with Dallas having the shots advantage 30-21.

Overtime was the most intense five minutes of hockey throughout the entire night. The frame was upbeat and rather chaotic, but neither team could beat the opposing goal to get the win.

In the shootout Enroth was perfect stopping Florida’s Pirri, Vincent Trocheck, and Nick Bjugstad. Stars forward Jason Spezza and defenseman John Klingberg were both denied by Ellis, but Colton Sceviour was the hero as he scored in the third round to give Dallas the 4-3 shootout victory.

Thoughts and Observations

Hot Opposing Goalies

The Dallas Stars are the best team in the NHL at making opposing goaltenders look entirely unbeatable. Ellis was a last ditch effort by Florida to fulfill the goaltender position with the injuries to Al Montoya and Roberto Luongo a few nights ago, but somehow he managed to outplay Dallas’ number one goalie while making crucial saves at the right times. Ultimately those kinds of saves are exactly what the Stars have been missing this season and they are often the difference between winning and losing. Even though Dallas found a way to win tonight the inability to rely on goalies to get the job done is rather concerning.

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    • Goaltending Issues Continue

    Despite the rather fast and positive start for Dallas they once again ended up having to pull starting goalie Kari Lehtonen midway through the game. Lehtonen gave up three goals on fourteen shots against, giving him a .786 save percentage during the 32:28 of time he played. Lehtonen stood behind the Stars bench for a few minutes after being pulled and was noticeably upset with his performance, shaking his head and electing to keep his mask on. To be blunt, Lehtonen has been the biggest disappointment for the Stars and the biggest reason for their underwhelming season. As the most important player on the ice every game he has to be better and through the first 52 games of the season he’s played he hasn’t been good enough. Although back-ups have been successful in relief for the Stars this season it is increasingly important that starting goalies can get wins down the stretch.

    Young Guns

    On a more positive note, Curtis McKenzie proved his worth in this game and showed what the new type of instigator in the NHL really is. He not only helped the team on the score sheet with a goal in the first period, he also defended Seguin in his fight with Kulikov. Dallas then went on to score their second goal of the game right after the fight to put them up 2-0. Although that lead evaporated after a number of questionable goals against Lehtonen, McKenzie’s efforts tonight didn’t go unnoticed or unappreciated. On the blue line John Klingberg, once again, made his presence known. He had some great decision-making skills on display during Dallas’ three power plays as he patiently waited before moving the puck in dangerous areas. He has proven to be a positive in most Stars games and has stepped up to help out in Trevor Daley’s absence. These are two of the “young guns” that make up the future of the Stars and if they perform like they did tonight consistently that future is looking bright.

    Thanks for reading! Be sure to check back for the preview and post game analysis on Saturday as the Stars take on the Tampa Bay Lightning.

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