Seguin Nets Two, Dallas Stars Down Edmonton Oilers 3-2
Lindy Ruff said Tuesday morning that he did not want to see his team take the opponent lightly. Well, they did not entirely at least. The Dallas Stars once again held onto an early lead and managed to defeat a struggling Oilers team, 3-2 on Tuesday night. The Stars have now won three straight on their current five game homestand, with one game remaining. Their record now improves to 9-9-4, while the Oilers have dropped seven straight contests and now sit at a record of 6-14-2. The Stars remain in sixth in the Central Division, while the Oilers remain last in the Pacific Division.
Game recap
The game started off very slowly, with plenty of shooting and plenty of saving. Both teams found a few chances in the first ten minutes, but neither goalie would give. But with 7:11 remaining, the legend of John Klingberg gained another chapter, when the defenseman sent a slapshot 74 feet into Viktor Fasth’s twine right off of the draw won by Jason Spezza. After this beautiful smack, Erik Cole found himself bobbing and weaving through the Oilers defense and in the clear for a shot when he was held by Andrew Ference. This sent the Stars to their first power play of the night. Sadly, with 30 seconds remaining in the first, Trevor Daley mishandled the puck at the blue line and Boyd Gordon found himself with a 2-on-1 and capitalized with seconds left on the clock. The Stars and Oilers headed to the locker room with a 1-1 tie, the Oilers holding the 17-16 shot advantage.
The second period started slow like the first, but it was not long before the Stars got to work. With 14:01 left in the second, John Klingberg sprung Tyler Seguin for a breakaway goal, Seguin’s sixteenth of the year. Alex Goligoski earned the secondary assist on the goal. Travis Moen found a dance partner with 11:57 left in the period, being Matt Hendricks. Moen clearly won the fight after landing a few haymakers and ending up on top of the pile. Then, Lindy Ruff surprised everyone (as he likes to do every now and then) by changing the lines to mirror what analysts supposed they would look like back in the offseason. Erik Cole, Jason Spezza, and Ales Hemsky had a great rush to start this new phase off. But Tyler Seguin made magic again, this time with assists from Jamie Benn and Patrick Eaves. The Stars took a commanding 3-1 lead and the 28-27 shot advantage at the end of the second.
Edmonton opened the third period with a goal, when Jordan Eberle made an outstanding between-the-legs pass to Taylor Hall, who shelved it on Kari Lehtonen with 14:01 to go. A 4 on 4 ensued when Garbutt and Hall headed to the box within ten seconds of each other, but nothing came out of it. The Stars called their timeout with 4:10 left in the third after a heart-stopping series that included Cody Eakin swiping the puck out of the crease before Jamie Benn cleared. The Oilers emptied their net and called timeout with 18.6 seconds left. All this would not be enough, and the Stars walked away with a 3-2 victory.
Thoughts and Observations
First off, John Klingberg continues to produce. Two points tonight and a goal in each of his last three games, totaling out for eight points in his first eight NHL games are numbers to be extremely proud of. Klingberg is efficient on both sides of the puck and continues to make smart decisions that lead to bountiful results. In regards to his eight points in eight games, he said, “Yeah, that’s fun. I try not to think about it and just go on to the other game next time. Of course I’m happy, but I don’t try to think about it.”
The Dallas Stars have also learned how to hold on, but they have not yet fully grasped the 60-minute production. They are making strides, though. “Getting closer, definitely. I think we’re getting closer to our full game,” Stars forward Tyler Seguin said about tonight’s game. “We’re still showing glimpses of not playing our game, but we are happy to walk away with a win and we just need to put ourselves on a run to get out of this hole we put ourselves in.” Tonight, the Stars were outshot 10-6 in the third period and allowed a goal, but that is improvement compared to Saturday night when they allowed one goal and were outshot 16-2.
The Dallas Stars face one more game in this homestand, the same homestand which they started with a record of 1-4-4. They now sit at 4-5-4 and have improved significantly. Lindy Ruff had this to say about tonight’s performance:
“I thought we were better. We had some great opportunities to put them away, and I didn’t like some of our offensive decisions. I thought we could have turned some close opportunities into golden opportunities and we didn’t.”
“I thought we played a smart third period. I thought we were diligent with our assignments and we made them earn anything they wanted to get.”
On reuniting the Roussel-Eakin-Garbutt line:
“They gave us instant energy. They’re the three guys that just go after it. Their north-south game is probably as good as any line in this league.”
On the homestand finale Friday against Minnesota:
“I feel like we dominated most of that game (November 15th vs. Minnesota). It was a game where the possession was all ours. They got the one break and then they just defended, defended. For us, we’re gonna have to hang around those games that are real tight and win them. Tonight was a game that we had the lead, I thought we played well. If we get the lead, we gotta play well with it. If we’re not there, we gotta wait for our chances. The times we’ve given up goals to them are the times that we have been pressing too hard.”
Leave your comments and questions below, and as always, thanks for reading! Go Stars.