Dallas Stars: Final Thoughts On An Impressive 6-4 Win Over Ottawa

After losing two in a row to roll into Thanksgiving, the Dallas Stars bounced back in a big way on Black Friday. They defeated the Ottawa Senators 6-4 and claimed yet another win at home.

The Dallas Stars played their fifth and final home game of the month of November on Friday night. And, as they have done often this season, they made it count.

Following back-to-back losses to the New York Rangers on Monday and Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday, the Stars were in full force at the AAC on Friday night. They welcomed in the Ottawa Senators and rounded up a 6-4 victory behind a stellar offensive performance from the entire lineup.

Game recap

The first period didn’t start in an ideal way for the Dallas Stars. Just 3:05 into the opening frame, the Senators got on the board first behind a goal from Ryan Dzingel on the doorstep. But, the Stars quickly rallied and swung back. Jamie Benn found the back of the net on a top-line assault to tie things up and Dallas continued to pour on the pressure to close out the period. It was a 1-1 tie after the first with the Stars holding a 19-8 advantage in the shots on goal department.

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The second period once again brought some adversity to the Stars. After a questionable penalty was called on Gavin Bayreuther, the Senators took the lead on a power play goal from Brady Tkachuk. But, the Stars were once again quick to respond. Behind a great shot from Miro Heiskanen and a beautiful pass from Devin Shore to Taylor Fedun for the finish, the Stars turned a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead. Their consistent pressure helped them close out the middle frame with a lead and a 43-21 shots advantage.

Dallas sealed the deal early on in the third period when Heiskanen and Blake Comeau each scored a goal within 1:32 of each other to make it a 5-2 game. Maxime Lajoie and Zack Smith scored to counter and bring the game back within one midway through the frame, but the Stars would ultimately hold out and Gavin Bayreuther would score an empty net goal (and his first NHL goal) to close on a 6-4 win for Dallas.

Thoughts and Observations

A slow start deserves a response

When Dzingel scored the opening goal of the game just 3:05 into the first period, an eerie familiarity took hold of the game. Just like in their past two losses, the Stars had started slow. They only put two shots on goal through the first five minutes of the period and were already in an early hole after letting up a stoppable goal.

But this time around, the Stars were ready to respond. The Stars unloaded an offensive assault while also keeping their defensive composure. The top line put together two furious rushes in a row, generating a number of good looks and keeping Ottawa on their heels. By the end of the period, it was a 1-1 game with Dallas leading the shot chart 19-8.

That’s called a response to early adversity. It was missing in the game against Pittsburgh, but the Stars found it tonight.

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Power play woes continue to run deep

The Stars spent a good portion of Friday’s morning skate working on their power play attack. They put some new players and combinations on both units in an attempt to revive what had been a lacking man advantage over the past few games.

The new combinations didn’t seem to help much. Dallas finished the night 0-3 on the power play with seven shots on the man advantage.

And though they didn’t score, Stars head coach Jim Montgomery was impressed with the energy boost the man advantage gave the team.

“[The power play] gave us momentum and gave us energy,” Montgomery said. “I thought we were struggling in the second period there for a little while. Miro got the goal, then we got the power play, and we went from like 29 shots to 40 by the end of it. Really happy with the development, the work ethic, and the converging on the net, creating rebounds, and attacking again.”

The Stars now sit in 19th place in the NHL with an 18.5 percent success rate on the power play. It’s not the most encouraging sight, but things seem to be trending in the right direction. And once John Klingberg returns from injury, you can likely be assured that the average will spike again.

Miro Heiskanen = still really good at hockey

Now that he is 23 games into his NHL career, 19-year-old Miro Heiskanen is really starting to catch fire. He’s always had a certain buzz about him in his play, and tonight he took another step forward.

Heiskanen picked up the first multi-goal game of his NHL career on Friday night, scoring twice and almost tallying a third into the empty net as the game closed out.

“Yeah, it was close,” Heiskanen said. “It was curling, but not this time. Almost.”

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In addition, he also put five shots on net, posted a +2 rating, and led the team in ice time with 23:04 (including 4:03 on the power play). He continues to develop

“It was amazing to witness how everyone on the bench was pulling for him,” Montgomery said. “Miro was going good. Once he scored and we saw he had his legs again, we made the switch to him going back on the first power play unit. Especially when he’s feeling the rhythm of the game like he was, you’re going to put him back up there.”

Shots on goal were outrageous

Going into Friday night’s contest, the Dallas Stars’ season-high shots on goal total was 51. That total came in their first matchup with the Anaheim Ducks on Oct. 13 when Dallas rallied from a 3-0 deficit to win 5-3.

They surpassed that mark rather easily on Friday against the Senators. The Stars put up 54 shots against Ottawa and were rewarded with six goals. It was kind of sensible following their 19-shot first period and almost obvious when they sat at 43 through two periods.

This comes after the Stars took a mere 36 combined shots in their games against the New York Rangers (17 SOG) and Pittsburgh Penguins (19 SOG) earlier in the week. Yes, they took more shots in this one game than they did in the last two contests combined.

“I think we held onto the puck more when we could,” said Stars center Devin Shore. “I thought our [defense] did a really good job at getting shots through. Miro’s went in and we had some great rebounds in traffic and that caused difficulties for the other team. I think just establishing well and getting a lot of shots through.”

When pucks get on net, good things typically happen.

Just a pure, unadulterated offensive onslaught

There’s really no denying that the Dallas Stars’ offense was on fire tonight. Yes, the Ottawa Senators own the worst defense in the NHL and yes, the Stars were due for a breakout in the goal department.

But with 54 shots and six goals, everything was flaring. 12 different Dallas Stars found their way onto the scoresheet. Mattias Janmark posted a +4 rating while Jason Dickinson put up a +3. Joel Hanley was the only Star to not put a shot on net, while Janmark and Jason Spezza were the only ones that put less than two on net. Dallas tied their season-high in goals with six (which they set last Sunday) and did everything right in the offensive zone.

Everything was rolling for the Stars on offense tonight and it was a much-needed bounce back performance. Let’s see if it translates to the road.

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A night for firsts

There were plenty of firsts for the Dallas Stars in tonight’s contest.

Heiskanen tallied the first multi-goal game of his young NHL career. Fedun scored his first goal as a Dallas Star. Devin Shore picked up two assists in his first game back from injury. And, to top it all off, Gavin Bayreuther scored his first goal at the NHL level.

When your roster is brimming with youth, it’s only a matter of time before these “firsts” begin to pile up.

Taylor Fedun starts off with a bang

If there’s one player who knew how to make an immediate impact in their first game as a Dallas Star, it was Taylor Fedun.

After being called up on Thursday afternoon from the AHL, Fedun played his first game with Dallas and his first game of the 2018-19 season tonight. And he immediately found his groove.

The defenseman scored a goal on a beautiful feed from Devin Shore to give the Stars a 3-2 lead late in the second period.

Fedun, who was traded to the Dallas Stars organization on Nov. 10, said that he had learned a good amount of the Stars’ defensive scheme when playing in Texas and had a few chats with the coaches this morning before making his Dallas debut tonight. That level of preparedness proved to be enough as Fedun scored a goal and claimed third on the team with five total shots in 12:54 of ice time.

“We made a good play to back check and break things up in our end and there was a lot of open ice because they were so aggressive off the forecheck,” said Fedun about his goal. “So, I just jumped up and tried to find a hole and drive the net. It was a great play by Shoresy to get it over to me there.”

“I thought it was going to be more of a clearcut two-on-one, so I kind of slowed up and didn’t have a ton of speed,” said Shore, who had the primary assist. “I tried something. Luckily it worked, and it was a great finish by Fedun. That was really good patience and a great job getting the puck upstairs.”

Shore pointed out that he hadn’t met Fedun before this morning but that he was quick to wanting to meet everyone when he first got in the locker room.

“He’s an awesome guy,” Shore said. “It’s just the little stuff. He looks you in the eye, he’s happy to be here, and he shakes everyone’s hand. He played awesome for us tonight, so it was good to see.”

Fedun noted that the trade was “a bit of a shock” and that he had to leave his family in Rochester (where he was playing for the Sabres’ AHL team). He did, however, say that his wife (who is in a nursing program in Rochester) was able to make it down for tonight’s game due to Thanksgiving break.

"“Really good. Smart. For not having been with us, he kind of understood how we wanted to play. Really good at getting shots through, had his feet moving at the offensive blue line, and obviously that goal was huge.” – Jim Montgomery on Taylor Fedun"

There’s no certainty as to how long Fedun will be up in Dallas, but he said that he is committed to putting his best effort forward every day and helping the team.

Injury updates going forward

Montgomery provided some updates on the various Stars’ injuries following the game as they head on the road again.

“Methot: not going, Johns: not going, Klingberg: not going, Carrick: not going,” Monty said during his postgame press conference. “So, four of our top six,” he added with a chuckle.

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In addition, Martin Hanzal will join the team on the upcoming road trip and begin practicing with them. Ben Bishop will stay at home tomorrow and rehab for a little while longer before flying out of Dallas on Sunday night to join the team on the ice starting Monday.

It’s still an extensive list to look at, but it seems to get shorter with each passing game. By mid-December, this roster could be almost entirely healthy. Stay tuned, though.

Back to the road

The Dallas Stars did what they had to and soaked in success in an important home game. And now, it’s back to the road.

Dallas will fly to Denver tonight and prepare for a Saturday night matchup against the Colorado Avalanche (who played in Arizona tonight). It’s the final match of a five-game week for Dallas and the first of a four-game road trip that will also take them through Western Canada throughout next week. They will stop in Edmonton on Tuesday, Calgary on Wednesday, and Vancouver on Saturday before returning home on Dec. 3.

It’s more time to rally together and beef up the record away from home as they continue their trek in the Western Conference playoff race. And they just might find some reinforcements along the way.

But for now, the Dallas Stars are back in the win column and sit at a 12-9-2 mark on the year. They remain in the second wild card spot in the West and sit two points back of third place in the Central which is currently controlled by Colorado.

Saturday night’s game is a chance to jumble up an airtight divisional race even more. We’ll see if this Stars team can steal some points in a Central showdown while away from home.

Until then, enjoy your Black Friday and a big Stars win.