Dallas Stars Daily Links: Stars Score in OT to Beat Canucks 2-1

On an incredibly high scoring night in the NHL (each of the 7 other games had 5 or more goals scored), the Stars and Canucks decided to buck the trend and play a low-scoring nail biter. This isn’t to say that it was either teams defensive prowess that kept the score down, as both goalies came up big at times and there was just a lot of neutral zone play, but there weren’t a ton of mistakes either.

I’m sure a lot of you non-West Coasters were feeling this way tonight as well:

The first period was fairly uneventful and ended with both teams knotted at 0-0. The game got off to what seemed like an ominous start, as Alexander Radulov was called for hooking just 29 seconds into the game, but the Stars’ newfound penalty kill dominance (spoiler alert: the kill streak is over) was able to withstand the two minutes.

In the second, Tyler Seguin blasted one off the iron and in to give the Stars a 1-0 lead:

The lead held up until 6 minutes into the third, when Sam Gagner capped off a crazy end-to-end play with a rebound put back to tie the game at 1, thus ending the penalty kill streak as the Canucks were on the PP after Marc Methot was assessed an interference call that he was NOT happy about:

Things stayed 1-1 until overtime, when my new hero Alex Radulov took it the length of the ice, dangled a bit, wristed in the game winner, and sheathed his sword (leaving Mattias Janmark in hug-waiting limbo in the process):

Here’s Hitch after the game:

And Razor and Luds with a little more postgame action:

All in all it was a great end to an exciting (at times) game. Happy Halloween everyone, be safe!

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More Stars Stuff

Ben Kuzma wrote a piece on Ken Hitchcock returning to Dallas and cementing the team’s legacy in the city. [The Province]

Stephen Johns is keeping a positive attitude as he recovers from his concussion. [SportsDayDFW]

Here’s Hitch on Martin Hanzal’s absence from the lineup last night:

Scott Burnside’s Counter Attack yesterday was with Sam Gagner, son of former Star (and NHL ‘93/’94 video game super-stud) Dave Gagner:

Mike Heika dropped a piece on Esa Lindell’s path to the NHL. [SportsDayDFW]

League Stuff

Rob Mixer’s Mixed Bag (get it?) covers the weird Metro division, trouble for Alain Vigneault, and more. [Sporting News]

Jim Cerny examines who have been tricks or treats so far this season:

The Oilers are struggling and GM Peter Chiarelli is examining all options to improve his team. Including trading Jussi Jokinen, though I can’t imagine he would fetch much of a return unless a team out there thinks he can return to his shootout specialist glory days with the Stars. [SportsNet]

Former Stars’ goalie prospect Maxime Lagace made his NHL debut for the Golden Knights last night. It....didn’t go well:

Corey Hirsch thinks Carey Price will be fine and warns Canadiens fans to not forgot about what happened at the end of Patrick Roy’s Montreal stint. [SportsNet]

Okie dokie:

CBC Sports has five things that they learned last week in the NHL:

Down Goes Brown breaks down the weekend, including some speculation that Lindy Ruff (who is an assistant for New York currently) could take over for Alain Vigneault if the Rangers decide to give him the axe:

Speaking of DGB and the aforementioned NHL ‘94, here’s a piece Sean Mcindoe wrote for Grantland a few years ago that was quite entertaining: