Although he's always been a playmaker first and foremost, there has never been a doubt that Dallas Stars forward Ray Whitney also knows how to put the puck in the net himself. After all, he has 379 goals in his 1,289-game regular season NHL career.
Even so, when a player is 41 years old and stuck on one goal for the season during a drought that spanned 13 games with one assist in the last six games. there is concern. Whitney was in the middle of quite a few scoring chances, especially in the Stars' games earlier this month against Toronto and Philadelphia.
He remained snakebitten. That is, until the back half of the Stars' home-and-home set with the Colorado Avalanche. On Tuesday night at the American Airlines Center, Whitney exploded for a pair of goals -- one at even strength and the other on the power play -- to lead the Stars back from a pair of one-goal deficits.
The first tally, scored at the 7:31 mark of the opening stanza, was scored right from the doorstep. Hard work by Shawn Horcoff and Alex Chiasson made the scoring opportunity possible. The second goal, which tied the game with 2:41 left in the middle period, was a snipe off a perfect centering pass by Chiasson.
Incidentally, Chiasson fell short of a Gordie Howe Hat Trick by a goal. He had the two helpers and also a first-period fight with Avalance forward Marc-Andre Cliche.
With the game still tied 2-2 and less than three minutes remaining the third period, Colton Sceviour scored his second goal in three games to give the Stars the only lead they'd receive or need. The goal came off a sudden transition opportunity.
In neutral ice, Rich Peverley feathered a lead pass onto the tape of Sceviour's stick, and the young forward sped off on a breakaway against Jean-Sebastien Giguere (25 saves on 28 shots). Attacking with speed, Sceviour jammed a forehand shot betwee Giguere's pads.
Dallas backup goaltender Dan Ellis provided strong goaltending (25 saves on 27 shots) at the other end of the ice. He also earned the secondary assist on the game-winner.
Up next for the Stars is a home tilt with the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night. Dallas will then finish up a busy pre-Christmas schedule with a two-game California road trip to San Jose on Saturday and Los Angeles on Monday.
*********
KINDLE USERS: Please subscribe to Stars Buzz; a one-stop feed for all things Dallas Stars-related at HockeyBuzz. Content is automatically updated whenever a new blog is published. For more information, click here.