Video Highlights: Stars @ Nashville: 3/23/2010

How the heck did Dallas win a game in which they were outshot 35-14?  Much like the game against Minnesota on February 2nd (when Dallas was outshot 42-18), they got it in large part from the outstanding play of the man between the pipes.  Kari Lehtonen was calm and collected in net.  Most of the saves were pretty routine - Nashville seemed to like to shoot the puck directly into his glove - but he came up with a big stop in the 3rd when the Predators tried to get back into the game while shorthanded.  The offense was provided by one of the usual suspects (Loui Eriksson), one suspect who has been showing up more often on the boxscore lately (Trevor Daley), and one "are you kidding me?" suspect (Matt Niskanen).  The win snapped Nashville's six game winning streak and allowed Dallas to leapfrog (temporarily, at least) into 10th place in the Western Conference.

Short highlights after the jump...

It's always the third mouse that gets the cheese...

Usually the Stars are on the losing end of goalmouth scrambles, but this time they were the beneficiaries. Steve Ott wasn't able to take a pass from Brad Richards in front of the goal. The Predators scrambled, with goalie Pekka Rinne seeming to think that he had the puck covered. Instead it slid out into the slot, where Trevor Daley picked it up and tapped it in for an easy goal to put the Stars up 1-0.

Maybe Loui Eriksson sold something to him...

The Stars jumped out quickly in the third period. Brad Richards stole the puck in the neutral zone and raced into the offensive zone with Loui Eriksson, who accepted the pass from Richards and shot it into the goal from the right circle. Pekka Rinne seemed to be expecting Eriksson to shoot far side, but the goalie was beat on the short side for Eriksson's team-leading 27th goal of the season.

The Stars have opened a can on them in the 1st two minutes of the 3rd...

Just 30 seconds after Eriksson scored, the Stars scored again, this time off a shot from just inside of the blue line by much-maligned defenseman Matt Niskanen. With Mike Ribeiro screening Pekka Rinne as the former passed in front of the net, Niskanen took a pass from Brenden Morrow and shot it in far side from 58ft away to put the Stars up 3-1.

Oh, he needed that...

Down 3-1 to the Stars by two minutes into the 3rd period, Nashville used a Stars' power play, which came on a questionable call on Dustin Boyd for goaltender interference, to attempt to score shorthanded to get back in the game. Martin Erat had a shot which was saved by Kari Lehtonen by his toe as he slid across and out of the crease.