The Boston Bruins have been one of the NHL's top third-period teams in recent years. Recent Bruins hiccups aside (1-3-1 in their last five games), any time an opposing team finds itself trailing Boston in the latter stages of the third period, there will not be many times the other club skates off with one point, let alone two.
Two points is exactly what the Dallas Stars emerged with last night, by virtue of a 3-2 shootout win. Jamie Benn gave the Stars an early lead in a marquee goaltending duel that saw Boston's Tuukka Rask and Dallas' Kari Lehtonen each turn back 34 of 36 shots in regulation and overtime. With the Stars trailing 2-1 with 2:34 remaining in regulation, Vernon Fiddler converted a penalty shot to send the game to overtime.
After a scoreless OT ended with the game still tied, the night of Tyler Seguin and Rich Peverley's return to TD Garden ended well for the Stars as Seguin and Peverley notched shootout goals to give Dallas the bonus point at stake in the postgame skills competition.
Lehtonen singlehandedly prevented the game from turning into an early blowout. Although the Stars got on the board first, the ice was tilted against them in the opening period. Aided by a couple of power plays, the Bruins roared out to a 15-1 shot on goal advantage at one point, including a quick response to the Benn goal by Torey Krug.
The goal by Stars captain Benn came at the 3:38 mark. Benn intercepted the puck at the Boston blue line, moved up one of his favorite shooting spots in the right circle and wristed a shot past Rask on Dallas' first shot of the game. Just 38 seconds later, Boston defenseman Krug forced a turnover in the Dallas zone. Former Stars forward Reilly Smith gained the disc and, as Krug pinched up toward the net, found him with the pass in point blank range. Krug made no mistake.
As the game moved along, it became Rask's turn to holt the fort for his own side. Over the final 47 minutes of regulation, Dallas outshot the Bruins by a 35-21 margin. The Stars had to kill back-to-back penalties early in the second period, but then pretty much controlled the middle stanza with a 13-4 shot advantage.
Early in the third period, it was time for the Bruins penalty killers to step up. Boston survived a four-minute disadvantage on a high-sticking double minor against Smith. With 8:21 remaining in the third period, Boston grabbed its first lead of the game. Lehtonen again had little or no chance to make the save as Milan Lucic re-directed a point shot from Dougie Hamilton.
As time ticked down to 2:34, Fiddler got a breakaway and was hooked by Bruins defender Dennis Seidenberg. Fiddler was awarded a penalty shot. With the game on the line, Fiddler roofed a shot under the bar to tie the game at 2-2.
Dallas had a 4-3 shot advantage in the scoreless overtime. In the deciding shootout, Boston’s Patrice Bergeron scored first. Dallas' second shooter, Seguin, beat Rask to the stick side. The shootout was tied, 1-1, after three rounds. In round four, Lehtonen stoned David Krejci. Peverley then ended the game victoriously for Dallas, wristing a shot past Rask.
The Stars have now won each of the first two games of their current three-game road trip via shootout. The road swing comes to an end on Thursday in Detroit. The Stars will then briefly return home for one against the defending Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks before a three-game western Canada road trip begins.
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