Dallas Stars: Three Positives from Their Big Win Over the Jets

The Dallas Stars came out hot in tonight’s match against the Winnipeg Jets, winning 5-1.

Before this game, the Jets had defeated the Dallas Stars in their last eight meetings.

As usual, the warm-ups featured the latest round of Tyler Seguin and Mark Scheifele’s game to see who will get off the ice last. Seguin won this round.

After having their fun before the game started, all bets were off, as the game quickly devolved into a heated match, culminating in a mess at the end of the first period.

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The Stars came out on top and their win certainly fired a warning shot for the rest of the division. Let’s take a look at a few of the high notes from the game.

High Note: Staying Relatively Clean

The Stars could’ve easily let the game get away from them with too many penalties when the Jets started coming for them in the first period. Instead, they mostly sat back and let Winnipeg take the penalties, even capitalizing on one of them for their second goal of the night.

After that, things escalated quickly with 0:01 remaining in the first period, when Connor Carrick gave Mark Scheifele a shove right as Marc Methot was getting called for an interference penalty. Dustin Byfuglien retaliated after the whistle by cross-checking Carrick in the back, putting him face-first into the dasher boards.

Byfuglien only received a minor penalty for the hit, but Brett Ritchie dropped the gloves on the faceoff and fought Adam Lowry in retaliation for the hit.

It seemed inevitable that the second and third would see further escalation, which could easily lead to sloppy play and bad penalties, but the Stars kept things mostly clean. That’s not to say they were angels, because that’s not the case, but it didn’t spiral out of control.

High Note: Jamie Benn’s 600th Point

With Jamie Benn’s second period power play goal, he notched his 600th career point. He got number 601 in the third.

Benn is the fifth player in franchise history to reach that plateau, and the only player drafted post-relocation to do so. He joins Brian Bellows, Neal Broten, Dino Ciccarelli, and Mike Modano.

He also earned first star honors for the game, since he had 2 goals and an assist in addition to his milestone.

High Note: Ben Bishop’s Saves

Ben Bishop was on top of his game tonight as he made more than his fair share of outstanding saves.

He had some amazing glove saves and was often in great position. He had a great showing in his shutout on Thursday as well, and he doesn’t look in preseason form at all.

There were a few moments where Bishop was out of position tonight, but he recovered well, and only allowed one goal. It may have broken his 1.000 season save percentage, but his .970 tonight will still do just fine.

Now, the Stars have two days off before their next match-up, when they host the Maple Leafs at home on Tuesday. Until then, fans can bask in the win and the feeling of being at the top of the Central Division for now.