It wasn't always artistic, but the bottom line from last night's 5-3 win was that the Stars managed to reclaim first place in the Pacific Division and send the Anaheim Ducks to their 12th straight loss on the road.
It's all too common for a team to come out flat in its first home game following a long road trip, and that's what happened to the Stars early last night. The club got to a poor start in the first half of the opening period but Richard Bachman held the game scoreless until Mike Ribeiro and Brendan Morrow combined to turn a 2-on-1 rush into the game's opening goal.
From there, the Stars gained momentum. Believe it or not, it took until last night for Dallas to get their first two 5-on-3 power plays of the season. Alex Goligoski made the second one count, rifling a shot through traffic to forge a 2-0 lead. With the Stars still on a 5-on-4 power play, Ribeiro made it 3-0, snapping a shot past Jonas Hiller from the left circle.
But then the Stars took their foot off the gas pedal, and got themselves in penalty trouble of their own. Bachman was beaten short-side by future Hall of Famer Teemu Selänne. With 5:11 left in the middle stanza, Lubomir Vishnovsky blasted a shot through traffic for Anaheim's second power play goal. Finally, Anaheim pulled even in the game with a Nick Bonino deflection of Cam Fowler's point shot with 1:33 left in the period.
To their credit, the Stars dug a little deeper and showed their resiliency in the final period. Anaheim got a little too concerned with chasing Jamie Benn around. Loui Eriksson gathered the puck behind the net and found an open Michael Ryder in the slot. Ryder made no mistake, restoring the lead for Dallas.
The Stars' third line, which had gone a little quiet offensively during the road trip after carrying the club offensively from mid-November to early December, provided an insurance marker. Eric Nystrom did the honors with his 11th goal of the season. Nystrom's forechecking work forced a turnover, and center Vern Fiddler fed Nystrom for a goal from the left circle.
Bachman made 25 shots for the victory. Apart from the Selanne goal -- which might have been deemed soft if it hadn't been scored by a legendary marksman who can practically find a puck-sized opening while shooting blindfolded -- the rookie had a tremendous bounceback game from the loss in New Jersey.
The Stars host the Philadelphia Flyers tomorrow night. My gameday blog will focus on providing a Flyers scouting report as well as updating the Dallas lineup. The Stars should have Adam Burish back in the lineup tomorrow night.
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