Over the course of Kari Lehtonen's Dallas Stars career, the team has been a different club when he's been healthy compared to when he's been missing from the lineup or the team has otherwise had to go with his backup.
The arrival of veteran Dan Ellis as Lehtonen's backup is an on-paper upgrade to the likes of Richard Bachman and Andrew Raycroft. However Ellis' regular season performance to date (1-3-0, 3.60 GAA, .895 save percentage) and that of rookie Jack Campbell in his NHL debut (six goals against on 47 shots) reflects just how much the Stars still rely on Lehtonen and how much more confidently they play when the big Finn is in the lineup.
After Lehtonen sustained a groin pull on October 11, the Stars dropped four of five games, and yielded 22 goals in the process. Last night, Lehtonen was rock solid in his return to action. He shook off a little bit of early rust to make 28 saves in the Stars' 5-1 win over the Calgary Flames at the American Airlnes Center.
In so doing, Lehtonen ran his season record to 3-1-0, improved his save percentage in four games to .956 and lowered his goals against average to 1.56 per game. While Lehtonen has typically been a hot starter early in seasons, he also has a bit of history of scuffling in his first few games when returning from injury. From a Dallas perspective, it was nice to see him come back with an outstanding performance right off the bat.
Offensively, the Stars were led last night by a pair of goals from Alex Chiasson (his 4th and 5th of the young season) and Jamie Benn (numbers two and three). Defenseman Brenden Dillon also chipped in with his third goal of the month.
Defensively, after a bit of a slow start, the team did a better job of keeping the opponent to the perimeter and giving Lehtonen a good look at most of the shots. The Flames had relatively few second-chance opportunities over the course of the game.
On Chiasson's first goal, which put Dallas ahead 1-0 at the 4:04 mark of the first period, the sniping winger got open in front of the net and quickly stashed a feed from Ray Whitney past Calgary netminder Karri Ramo.
The score held until the Flames knotted the game at 4:40 of the middle stanza. This play was like many of the goals against this season -- the result of an odd-man counterattack by an opposing team. Lee Stempniak did the scoring honors with a shot from the right circle.
Midway through regulation, the Stars exploded for three goals in the span of 1:01 to turn a 1-1 deadlock into a comfortable 4-1 lead. First, Chiasson got free in the slot and converted another setup pass from Whitney. The goal was initially waved off for the puck not entering the net, but the ruling on the ice was overturned on video review.
Eighteen seconds after play resumed, Benn fired home a shot from the left circle off the line rush. Rich Peverley and Lehtonen drew assists. Benn, who told the media earlier in the week that he felt he needed to shoot his way out of a mini-drought (just one goal in the first eight games of the season), certainly put that into practice last night. He attempted a whopping 14 shots, putting seven on the net (two in the net) and missing the target on the other half.
Forty-three seconds after Benn's goal, Shawn Horcoff won a left circle faceoff cleanly back to Dillon. The defenseman's shot made its way through traffic and into the cage. Just like that, the Stars had a three-goal cushion.
Lehtonen and company did an outstanding job at not giving the Flames a sniff at a comeback. Most notably, the team killed off an early third period Calgary power play that conceivably could have triggered the start of a Flames rally.
Instead, right after the Chiasson minor expired, he stepped out of the box and sent the puck behind the net where Benn claimed it. The Stars captain stepped around the net and scored on the wraparound to extend the lead to 5-1.
Calgary spent much of the latter half of the third period killing penalties. Lehtonen stopped all 10 shots he saw in the period to nail down the win for the Stars. Dallas improved its record to 4-5-0. The Flames dropped to 4-4-2.
The Stars face off tomorrow night against the Winnipeg Jets at the AAC. Game time is 6 p.m. central. Back on October 11, the Stars picked up a 4-1 victory in Winnipeg.
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