Photo Credit : Darryl Dyck / The Canadian Press
For the fifth time in the last six seasons, the Dallas Stars are officially headed back to the playoffs with tonight’s 3-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks. The win has the Stars just one point shy of the league-leading New York Rangers, who defeated the Colorado Avalanche in a shootout tonight, giving the Stars a three-point buffer over the second-place team in the Central Division.
Eight minutes into the first period, both Dallas’ Wyatt Johnston and Vancouver’s Ian Cole headed to the penalty box for interference; Cole against Johnston and Johnston against Vancouver goaltender Casey DeSmith. Both teams had promising looks against the opposing goalies, but neither was able to notch the first tally of the night.
With 2:39 remaining in the period, Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes headed to the penalty box for high-sticking Stars captain Jamie Benn. With only 31 seconds left on the power play, Dallas’ Roope Hintz broke an eight-game goal drought and put the Stars up 1-0 in the closing moments of the opening frame.
Hintz controlled the puck along the board to DeSmith’s right before passing it to defenseman Miro Heiskanen at the blue line. Heiskanen quickly sent the puck to Jason Robertson in the left faceoff circle, who instantly passed it to Benn in the center of the zone. Benn sent the puck right back to Robertson, around a sprawling Elias Pettersson attempting to stop the Stars offensive onslaught. Robertson held the puck for a beat before sending it to the front of the net, and Hintz at the goal line. The puck bounced off DeSmith and dangled on the goal line before being tipped in by Hintz.
The goal was the first power play goal scored between the teams in all three games this season, and notched Benn his 900th point of the season, making him only the second person in the Dallas Stars franchise to do so.
The call was challenged by Vancouver, claiming the puck was played off a high stick by Robertson earlier in the play, but the call on the ice was upheld, putting the Stars back on the man advantage again for the failed coach challenge to close out the period.
Dallas started the second period with just under a minute remaining on the power play but weren’t able to double down on a lead early in the middle frame, but it set the pace for special teams in the second frame.
A minute later, Dallas was on the penalty kill when defenseman Thomas Harley headed to the box for crosschecking Arshdeep Bains, but the Stars held off the Canucks.
But with 12:21 remaining in the period, Vancouver scored the tying goal. Vancouver right winger Conor Garland took control of the puck along the boards behind the Dallas net before launching a backhanded no-look pass into the Stars zone. Canucks center JT Miller recovered the puck and rocketed a powerful wrist shot ripping into the net behind Stars goalie Jake Oettinger.
The Stars went back on the penalty kill with nine minutes left in the period when Craig Smith was sent to the box for tripping Bains, but the Stars killed the Canucks power play again.
Vancouver center Teddy Blueger headed to the penalty box for the Canucks with 6:26 left on the clock for crosschecking Stankoven, but Vancouver killed the Stars power play.
With 4:11 left in the period, Hintz was sent to the box for holding Vancouver’s Dakota Joshua, but again, the Stars held off the Canucks.
The final penalty of the period came with just 1:43 on the clock when Canucks defenseman Nikita Zadorov headed to the box for tripping Robertson.
The beginning of the third period started just as the beginning of the second, with the Stars on the power play, but the result was the same.
It was an extremely evenly matched third period, with both teams getting good looks at the opposing goalies and both goaltenders showing up clutch for their teams.
But with 3:28 remaining in the period, the Stars went on the final power play of the game when Blueger sent a high stick into the face of Johnston.
And just 20 seconds into the power play, Dallas’ captain landed the game-winning goal. Heiskanen controlled the puck at the Canucks blue line before sending it to Hintz at the top of the right faceoff circle. Hintz passed the puck to Stars center Joe Pavelski, who was skating along the goal line to DeSmith’s right. Pavelski passed under the stick of Canucks defenseman Carson Soucy to Benn in the middle of the zone. Benn instantly took a shot and sent the puck ripping into the net.
With two and a half minutes on the clock, Vancouver pulled DeSmith from the net in a last-ditch effort to tie the game, but the Stars offense was relentless, and landed an empty net goal with just two minutes remaining in the game.
Robertson took control of the puck along the boards in the Stars zone before sending it to Hintz who was skating through the neutral zone and into Canucks territory. Hintz passed it to Pavelski who was entering the zone, and Pavelski sent it to an advancing and undefended Robertson, who spun after collecting the puck, and dropped it into the net, sealing the Stars victory.
The Stars head to Seattle on Saturday to face the Kraken for only the second time this season. The Kraken sit at 2-6-2 in their last eight games and when the teams last met, fell to Dallas 4-3 in overtime. Puck drop is schedule for 9 p.m. CST.
Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images
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