Dallas Stars Come Up Big In Overtime, Defeat Kings 3-2
By Josh Clark
For a moment, it seemed as though the Dallas Stars were going to give away yet another home game in overtime. But that wasn’t the case as the Stars managed to knock off the Los Angeles Kings 3-2 in the extra frame.
Overtime curse be darned. The Dallas Stars found a way to close out their homestand with a bang, defeating the Los Angeles Kings 3-2 in overtime to snag seven of a possible ten points out of the pre-Christmas homestand.
Game recap
The Dallas Stars started the game with plenty of energy and offensive push. But a hi-sticking penalty on John Klingberg led to a Jeff Carter power play goal which put the Kings up 1-0 early. The Stars continued to push in the offensive zone, but ended the period with a blank sheet.
The second period was where Dallas got back in it. Early on in the middle frame, Tyler Seguin scored a beautiful tic-tac-toe goal with assists from Klingberg and Jason Spezza. There were good chances both ways, but the second period finished in a 1-1 tie.
The Stars were out for blood early in the third, and it resulted in Radek Faksa scoring on a beautiful second effort to take the 2-1 lead for Dallas. Jeff Carter scored on a rebound opportunity a few minutes later to tie things up at 2-2. This is how the score would remain going into overtime.
It only took a little over a minute into the extra period for Esa Lindell to find the back of the net on a beautiful pass from Jamie Benn to cap the 3-2 overtime victory for the Stars.
Thoughts and Observations
A Christmas present in overtime?
Coming into tonight’s game, the last thing the Stars would have wanted to do is go to overtime against the Kings. Dallas was 1-7 in OT and had just lost in the extra period on Tuesday night to St. Louis. On the other hand, the Kings were 7-3 in OT on the season.
Low and behold, the game extended to overtime as Dallas once again couldn’t close the game out with a late lead. So, all Stars fans proceeded to close their eyes and wait for the looming goal against that awaited them.
But there wasn’t a goal against. In fact, with 3:53 to go in the overtime period, the Stars found redemption. Jamie Benn and Esa Lindell caught the Kings in a change and took the puck into the zone for a 2-on-1. Benn dished it to Lindell who buried it home to give the Stars their second OT win of the year.
“It could be big,” Stars captain Jamie Benn said about the overtime victory. “Obviously our success lately in overtime hasn’t been very good. It was definitely nice to get this one tonight.”
What a way to head into the holiday break, huh?
Lindell can score in overtime too
Esa Lindell is not necessarily known for his goal scoring prowess. But that didn’t stop him from cashing in tonight and tying for the most goals among Stars defensemen this year with three.
“ [I] Saw they were changing one guy and saw the opportunity [to] get 2-on-1,” Lindell said after the game. “That was pretty easy to put in from that pass.”
It was a good moment of redemption for Lindell as well after his turnover against the Blues in overtime on Tuesday led to the game-winning goal against.
Faksa continues to impress
Radek Faksa is starting to heat up, and the Dallas Stars are taking notice. Tonight, he tallied another goal which puts him at three goals and four points in the past five games.
“I thought he was really good,” head coach Lindy Ruff said of Faksa after tonight’s game. “He was a guy I tried to double shift, playing him a little bit with [Jiri] Hudler and [Adam] Cracknell and with our two extra forwards.”
Faksa is continuing to win offensive battles, drive hard to the net, deliver on the forecheck, and find ways to score goals. If he can keep it up, he could quickly see his name moving up in the lineup.
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Lehtonen stood tall between the pipes
After taking a four game break and letting Antti Niemi bear the load of the homestand, Kari Lehtonen stepped back in between the pipes for the Dallas Stars tonight against LA. He responded splendidly, turning aside 29-31 to finish the night with a .935 save percentage.
“I felt alright,” Lehtonen said. “It took a little time to get comfortable, but once I did it felt like I hadn’t missed that much time and then it was fun. I was enjoying it, especially getting lots of shots in the second. That was a really good time.”
Lehtonen upped his save percentage to .897 and chipped his goals against average down to 2.87. He continues to whittle away at these stats and is now 7-10-3. He has allowed 12 goals in his last six games (2.00 GAA). Have yourself a night, Mr. Lehtonen.
Stars make something out of homestand
A little over a week ago, the Dallas Stars started up a five-game homestand that they determined would be “crucial” in determining whether or not they were a playoff-caliber team or not.
Now with Christmas directly in front of us, the Stars have completed the homestand, going 3-1-1 and snagging seven of a possible ten points. That’s not bad at all and is very impressive considering all five teams that they faced off against are currently holding playoff spots.
Within it was a 6-2 beating of the Anaheim Ducks, hard-fought 2-0 loss to the New York Rangers, 3-1 win over Philadelphia that snapped the Flyers’ ten game winning streak, disappointing 3-2 overtime loss to the St. Louis Blues, and finally a redeeming 3-2 overtime win against the Kings.
All in all, it was a pretty successful homestand. But Dallas did not gain much ground in terms of the standings. They still sit three points out of a playoff spot, but are starting to take back some games out of hand that they used to lack. Bottom line: keep winning and the rest will handle itself.
Back to even ground
It was almost like a storybook ending tonight. The Dallas Stars stared adversity in the face and triumphed over it. They played hard against an aggressive Kings’ squad and found a way to defeat their biggest enemy this season: overtime.
The win also bumped them to 14-14-7, meaning the Dallas Stars are finally back at a .500 winning percentage. It’s been since December 10th that Dallas was at .500 (11-11-6 before losing to Philadelphia on the road).
That’s one way to go out with a bang.
The final stat line
The Dallas Stars and Los Angeles Kings evened out in shots at 31 a piece. Dallas owned the face-off dot with a 59.6% success rate and blocked 18 shots to LA’s 12. The Kings outhit the Stars 24-13. Dallas finished the night 0/3 on the power play and 2/3 on the penalty kill.
Looking ahead
This is the best way that the Dallas Stars could have gone into the three-day Christmas break. With an overtime win that pushes them back to .500.
Next: Stars Need Everyone To Rope, Everyone To Ride
Following the holiday break, the Stars will play at Arizona against the Coyotes and former Star Alex Goligoski. That game will be on Tuesday night. After that, the Stars will come home for a three-game homestand against the Colorado Avalanche, Florida Panthers, and Montreal Canadiens. It promises to be a good one.
Make sure to check back into Blackout Dallas for complete coverage and analysis regarding each game and the team as a whole. But for now, enjoy the overtime win.