Coming off Wednesday night's collapse in Colorado and having played lackluster hockey in general the past two weeks, the Dallas Stars were in a very precarious position heading into last night. They faced an extremely important game in Los Angeles last night, and the odds seemed stacked against Dallas.
The Stars have struggled mightily in the second half of back-to-back games, and they were going up against a red hot LA team. As it turned out, Dallas was outshot and outchanced for much of the game, but on this night, the Stars had two key things go their way in what turned into a rousing 2-0 Dallas victory.
Glen Gulutzan put aside his usual practice of resting starting goalie Kari Lehtonen in the second game of back-to-backs (which has absolutely been a factor in why the team's record in such games has been so poor). Last night's game was simply too vital to Dallas not to use Lehtonen in goal, especially when the alternative was to have rookie Jack Campbell make his NHL debut under extremely pressure-packed circumstances against the defending defending Stanley Cup champions.
Lehtonen stepped up huge for Dallas last night. In recording the shutout, he made 40 saves, including seven with LA on the power play and quite a few tougher-than-average stops. The big Finn held his team even in the game for two-plus periods until they finally scratched out two goals and won.
The other deciding factor in the game: The Stars' graybeard contingent of Jaromir Jagr and Ray Whitney. Those were the two forwards who built the ill-fated 2-0 and 3-2 leads in Denver on Wednesday (Jagr with a goal and two assists, and Whitney with Dallas' third and final goal). Last night, the two 40-plus-year-old wingers once again provided all the offense the Stars were to get.
At the 6:34 mark of the third period, Jagr broke the scoreless deadlock. He took a pass from Jamie Benn near the blueline, held onto the puck as he cut left and moved through the circle and backhanded a shot at the net. In a classic case of a player creating his own good luck, Jagr's shot hit off the skate of LA defenseman Drew Doughty in front of the net, and deflected upstairs over Jonathan Quick.
Four minutes later, Whitney one-timed an Alex Goligoski pass home from the left circle to double the Dallas lead. That was more than enough support for Lehtonen, who slammed the door the rest of the way.
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