Photo Credit : Chitose Suzuki / Dallas Morning News
For the first time in three weeks, the Dallas Stars took the ice with both their starting goalie and their top defenseman in the lineup, defeating the Anaheim Ducks 4-3 in overtime. It was Stars goalie Jake Oettinger’s seventh consecutive win in net against the Ducks, and defenseman Miro Heiskanen scored the night’s tying goal and went right back to leading the Stars in ice time with 25-plus minutes, silencing any concerns about his recovery. The win puts the Stars within a point of both the Colorado Avalanche and the Winnipeg Jets.
Two and a half minutes into the opening frame, Stars center Matt Duchene gave the Stars their first goal of the game. Center Tyler Seguin stole the puck from Ducks defenseman Jackson LaCombe in the Anaheim zone and passed to it to left wing Mason Marchment as he crossed into the zone. Marchment sent the puck to Duchene as he advanced on Ducks goalie John Gibson. When Duchene reached the middle of the faceoff circle to Gibson’s right, he slammed the puck toward the net, sending it soaring behind Gibson and into the net.
With just five minutes remaining in the period, Anaheim defenseman Urho Vaakanainen tied the game. Ducks center Isac Lundestrom attempted a wrap-around goal on Oettinger that sailed through the crease and past the Stars goalie. Vaakaneinen recovered the puck off the boards and skated it to the goal line where he took a sharp angle shot that slid under the legs of Oettinger and bounced off his left skate, across the goal line.
The tables seemed to turn in the second period when the Ducks took a play from the Duchene playbook and scored just a minute and a half into the period. Dallas defenseman Jani Hakanpää lost the puck along the Dallas board to Anaheim’s Adam Henrique. Henrique passed it to Ducks right winger Troy Terry, who had advanced into the zone directly in front of Oettinger. Terry lifted the puck up and over the left leg, and into the Dallas net, putting the Ducks ahead 2-1.
The Stars brought the score back even though with a somewhat controversial goal just five minutes later. Dallas’ Craig Smith rushed into the Anaheim zone with defenseman Thomas Harley and center Wyatt Johnston. Harley took a shot from the right faceoff circle that Gibson couldn’t control and bounced directly to Johnston, who launched another shot on goal. Gibson lost the puck again, but LaCombe saved it from sneaking past the goal line by tipping it back into the zone. Smith recovered the puck from LaCombe and slammed it toward the goal and into the glove of Gibson. Initially the goal was called off, but after review, it was determined the puck crossed the goal line in its entirety while in Gibson’s glove and was ruled a good goal.
The first power play of the night came with 9:21 remaining in the period when Anaheim’s Ross Johnston was sent to the net for high sticking Stars captain Jamie Benn, but the Ducks killed off the Stars man advantage.
Just 12 seconds into the third period, the Ducks regained the lead yet again. Heiskanen attempted to control the puck off the boards behind Oettinger but lost it to Ducks center Mason McTavish. McTavish and Seguin collided behind the net, rocking it forward and lifting it up but not off the pegs. The puck was loose behind the net and Lundestrom recovered it before passing it to Ducks right winger Jakob Silfverberg, who was directly in front of Ott, and slammed the puck into the net.
The Stars headed to the power play again with 13:41 in the final frame after Ross Johnston was called for interference against Evgenii Dadonov, but yet again, the Stars would be denied a goal on the man advantage.
But just two minutes after the power play expired, Heiskanen scored the final tying goal of the night. Harley skated the puck into the Anaheim zone and skated it to the left faceoff circle before taking a shot on Gibson from the bottom of the circle. The puck bounced off Ross Johnston’s right skate before it could get to the net and drifted right to an undefended Heiskanen who dropped to one knee before sending the puck soaring into the Ducks net.
With 6:21 remaining in the game, Benn and Anaheim defenseman Radko Gudas headed to the penalty box, Benn for cross-checking Gudas and Gudas for roughing Benn. It was uncharacteristically the only penalty of the night for the Stars. After the game, head coach Pete DeBoer expressed his desire to keep Heiskanen, a major aspect of the team’s shorthanded play, off the penalty kill for his first game back, and the team clearly rallied around the idea.
Neither team was able to capitalize on the 4-on-4 play, and regulation concluded with both teams at three goals apiece.
Less than a minute into the 3-on-3 overtime period, Harley scored the game-winner for Dallas. Stars center Joe Pavelski won a faceoff in the Stars zone before dropping the puck behind him to Harley, who took control of the puck deep in the Dallas zone and skated it along the boards, unimpeded, into the Anaheim zone. Harley advanced on Gibson and flung a wrist shot toward the net that sent the puck flying over the right shoulder of the Anaheim netminder and into the net, giving the Stars the 4-3 victory.
The Stars will play their final game before the All-Star Break on Saturday at American Airlines Center in their second, and final, matchup against the Washington Capitals this season.
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