Dallas Stars Come From Behind, Beat Wild 6-3
The Dallas Stars improved to (25-7-2) after an impressive 6-3 victory over the Minnesota Wild tonight. Dallas will look to improve their winning streak to three tomorrow night as they host the Chicago Blackhawks.
Recap
First Period
The Stars started the game playing a lot of time in their defensive zone and it hurt them as the Wild scored just under five minutes in to go up 1-0. Minnesota scored to make it 2-0 before the halfway point of the period and that sealed the deal for Kari Lehtonen in net as Antti Niemi took over.
The Stars went into the first intermission trailing the Wild 2-0 with shots being 11 a piece.
Second Period
The second period started better than the first as the play was more evenly distributed between the three zones. No scoring occurred until Jordie Benn‘s point shot found its way through traffic to beat Devan Dubnyk and cut the Wild lead in half. Then at 18:30 of the period Vernon Fiddler tipped in a shot by Alex Goligoski to tie the game at 2.
With thirty-seconds remaining Tyler Seguin found himself alone in front of the net, where he sniped one past Dubnyk to give Dallas their first lead of the game. The Stars took their late period momentum and 3-2 lead into the second intermission.
Third Period
It took less than four minutes for Dallas to build upon their lead as Antoine Roussel beat Dubnyk after hustling to get into the zone and avoid an icing. Minnesota cut the lead to one with a goal at 10:26 to make it 4-3 Dallas.
With 2:01 remaining in regulation the Wild pulled Dubnyk in favor of the extra attacker. In a strange turn of events Cody Eakin attempted to clear the puck, but ended up getting a lucky bounce and scoring into the empty net to make it 5-3 Dallas.
Fiddler added an empty net goal of his own with 12.8 seconds remaining to make it 6-3 Dallas and seal the win for the Stars.
Thoughts and Observations
Starting the Right Way
Dallas knew full well how much this game counts going into it and they came out and rather immediately dug themselves a 2-0 hole. Not what anyone wants to see from a team that leads the Western Conference.
Games are hard enough as is and spending the majority of the opening five minutes in your own zone isn’t the way to make them any easier. To make matters worse Dallas has to travel and play tomorrow night against a talented and fast-skating Chicago club.
The Stars will look for a better effort from the team as a whole tomorrow as they try to head into the Christmas break on a high note.
Lehtonen the Team Down
Goaltending is the most difficult position in hockey and it’s also the easiest position to blame in a loss. Tonight, however, that blame wouldn’t be misconstrued. Lehtonen surrendered two goals against on the first four shots of the game to put Dallas in a rather unfortunate situation off the bat.
Starting net minders don’t often end the night with a .50 save percentage and tonight’s performance from no. 32 calls his label as one of Dallas’ two “starting goaltenders” into question.
Calm Through the Storm
After their rather abysmal start the Stars never gave up. They continued to strive to do the right things and ended up with a lead heading into the second intermission. A lead they would build upon at the start of the third and one they would further increase to win 6-3 in regulation.
Niemi made the key saves the Stars needed to win this game and he made up for the mistakes of his goaltending counterpart. His play surely changed the feeling of the entire roster as the game went on.
If this game goes to show anything it’s that the Stars can’t and shouldn’t be counted out. They have the ability to come from behind even when it seems highly unlikely. That’s what makes them a great team.
Thanks for reading! Be sure to check back tomorrow for full coverage as the Stars take on the Chicago Blackhawks at home.