The Dallas Stars continued their road trip in Calgary on Tuesday night, but a remarkable Flames comeback stunned Dallas in a shootout, 4-3.
After two thrilling wins on Friday and Saturday night, the Dallas Stars had two rest days before hitting the ice again Tuesday night, clashing with the Calgary Flames for the first time this season.
Looking for their third straight win and the twentieth overall on the season, Dallas looked to be in ideal position to do just that.
A similar result that the Stars just had on Saturday night happened again on Tuesday. Only this time, Dallas was on the losing end.
Game Summary
Period 1
Tuesday’s game was scoreless for just 108 seconds, before Jason Spezza scored his 10th goal of the season, and wasted no time grabbing his team the early lead. It was a slow rest of the period, at least until the final minutes.
Cody Eakin was cross-checked right in front of the goal, but the puck went off a flames defenseman and into the net, and Eakin was credited with his seventh goal of the season. The goal came with just 3:32 remaining in the period. After the first 20, the Stars led 2-0.
Period 2
For the first 10 minutes of the period, the momentum continuously switched between teams. Both teams had plenty of chances, but nobody could slip one past the opponent net-minders in the first half of the period.
But for the first time since October 22, Mattias Janmark found the back of the net on a wrap-around goal, just past the halfway mark of the game. There was a delayed penalty on the play, but Janmark snuck it past Karri Ramo before play could be stopped, increasing the Stars lead to 3.
Calgary had plenty of chances to close out the period, firing off the post twice. But Antti Niemi kept them out of the net, and held his ground between the pipes. After the middle frame, the Dallas Stars led 3-0, heading into the final 20.
Period 3
The Flames finally got one past Niemi, and it took them just 1:51 into the final period to do so. Mikael Backlund found the back of the net, cutting the Stars lead to two. Right after that, Johnny Gaudreau slipped one past Niemi as well, and just like that, the Stars lead was down to one with 16:59 minutes to play.
Lots of time passed, but Dougie Hamilton erased the three-goal deficit, and tied it up at three with 2:18 remaining in the game. That was all the scoring in the third period, and the Flames had come back to send it to OT.
Overtime
Stars captain Jamie Benn hit the post one minute into the overtime period, almost winning the game for the Stars. With :53 seconds left, Calgary committed a holding penalty, giving the Stars a little less than a minute with a four-on-three man advantage. But the Stars couldn’t slip one past Ramo, and the game went to a shootout.
Shootout
Calgary scored both of their first two shootout attempts.
Tyler Seguin missed his first one, but Patrick Sharp scored his to keep the game going.
Sean Monahan, however, scored his penalty shot, and completed the Flames improbable comeback.
Thoughts and Observations
Overall, Tuesday was another solid game for the Dallas Stars. At first.
The first 40 minutes were controlled by the Stars, but they collapsed in the third period.
The Stars just did this to the Minnesota Wild on Saturday, but let the Calgary Flames do it to them just three days later.
One thing that is still worrisome about this Dallas team is the defensive turnovers.
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The Stars had been turning the puck over way too much in their first 24 games heading into Tuesday night, and did the same against Calgary. And they turned out to be really costly.
The Dallas Stars are now 10-3-0 on the road this season, still the best away record in the NHL.
But tonight, the Stars just couldn’t hold on.
The Flames stunned the Stars in remarkable fashion, winning 4-3 in a shootout.
Next: Dallas Stars Goalie System Is Working Magically
The Dallas Stars return to the ice on Thursday night for stop number three of the four-game road trip, facing off with the Vancouver Canucks at 9:00.