That was the Dallas Stars team we all know and love last night
After having one of the worst games of the season on Saturday night, the Dallas Stars we all know and love showed up. After giving up six unanswered goals to the Colorado Avalanche, they scored six unanswered goals against the New York Rangers. We finally saw a team that showed some grit and punched back when the opponent was dominating the game. Let’s take a look back at the game and see where the momentum swung in the Stars’ favor in the third period.
It all started when Joe Pavelski scored the first goal within a minute of the third period starting. The American Airlines Center was loud once the Dallas Stars tied the game up at 2. It’s like the Dallas Stars struck a match to start kindling some momentum. Six minutes later, Mason Marchement got his no-goal overturned by a challenge. This was the moment when the Stars had the lead for the first time in the game.
Not even a minute later, the Stars crashed the zone and it looked like Matt Duchene scored an insurance goal. The New York Rangers would challenge the play for goalie interference and it was unsuccessful. Tyler Seguin would be listed as the official goal scorer as the Stars went up 4-2 in the second period. At this point, fans began to wonder if the Stars would reverse their fortunes from Saturday night.
Late in the third period, the New York Rangers would go on the power play and decided to pull Igor Shesterkin. It backfired big time on them as Sam Steel scored an empty-net goal to make it 5-2 Stars. They would keep Shesterkin on the bench after the goal and Roope Hintz would finish off the Rangers with an empty net goal of his own.
This was probably the best comeback that I’ve seen the Stars pull off considering the opponent. The New York Rangers had the best record in the Eastern Conference going into the matchup against the Stars. Early on in the game, it looked like the Stars were getting frustrated not getting their shots as they usually do. This looked like a game where the Stars were going to have to get physical in front of Shesterkin to win the game.
That is exactly what the Stars did in the third period and it all started with Joe Pavelski reading that rebound off Shesterkin’s pad. That goal lit a spark in the Stars that we haven’t seen in some time.
I hope the Stars build off the momentum from this game as they take on the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday night. The Stars need to bring this same urgency that they had late in this game if they want a chance of beating Vegas.