Dragging a four-game winless streak and coming back home off an 0-3-0 road trip, the Dallas Stars were in dire need of a home win yesterday against the equally struggling Ottawa Senators. Dallas did what it had it to do, and skated off with a 3-1 win.
After Thursday's 4-2 loss in Philadelphia, head coach Lindy Ruff and players ranging from Jamie Benn to Brenden Dillon emphasized the need to build upon the positive things that were established in that game despite the loss. The Stars actually outplayed the Flyers for significant stretches of the game but got outdueled in goal and were not quite able to recover from an early 2-0 deficit.
Yesterday, the Stars had a gut check game and passed the test. They easily could have given in to frustration after they trailed 1-0 at the first intermission despite a 17-7 shot advantage. They remained patient and eventually found ways to solve Ottawa goaltender Robin Lehner.
Until the latter stages of the second period, Erik Karlsson's goal at 3:27 of the first period stood as the game's lone tally. On the play, third-pairing Dallas defenseman Aaron Rome made a bad play and found himself up ice on the wrong side of the puck with no chance to get back. The deadly Karlsson ripped a shot past Olympic foe Lehtonen.
Lehtonen slammed the door on the Senators the rest of the way. The big Finn turned back 26 of 27 shots. Although Lehner (41 saves) was by far the busier of the two goalies during the game, Lehtonen authored several critical momentum saves when the Stars needed them.
Persistence finally paid off for the Stars at 15:07 of the second period. Rookie winger Valeri Nichushkin, who has been slumping since the Olympic break and was demoted from the top line to the fourth by coach Lindy Ruff, made his best play of recent weeks.
Taking the puck hard to the net, Nichushkin was stopped on his initial try but created a rebound opportunity. Cody Eakin, who had just one goal in the previous 17 games despite some excellent scoring opportunities in recent hames, cashed in the uncovered rebound on the doorstep to tie the game at 1-1. In the third period, Dallas pushed hard and generated a 13-8 shot advantage. The Stars forged ahead at 4:52. Lehner denied Ray Whitney on a shot but the veteran forward recovered the puck and fed it to a pinching Trevor Daley, who found the mark from the left circle. A couple minutes later, Jamie Benn scored from the same circle to create some breathing room.
Lehtonen and the team took care of the rest to nail down the victory. With the win, the Stars moved back within two points of Phoenix for the final wildcard spot in the Western Conference. The Coyotes sustained a 4-2 loss to the Boston Bruins last night.
The Stars will play host to the Winnipeg Jets tomorrow night. On Tuesday, they travel to Chicago to take on the defending Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks. Dallas owns a road win in Chicago earlier this season.
Video from Stars.NHL.com