Continuing on their West Coast swing, the 1-0-1 Dallas Stars tried to shake off their shootout loss on Tuesday night against the Anaheim Ducks.
The Ducks, squarely in a rebuild, have already proved an aggravating opponent for some of the leagues top teams when they thrashed the Caroline Hurricanes 6-3. The Stars had to avoid the classic trap game to re-settle themselves and collect two important early season points.
A line-up change for the Stars included the addition of Sam Steel, who came in for Ty Dellandrea. Jake Oettinger would face-off against John Gibson in an all-American match-up in net.
First Period
Anaheim came out firing in the first give minutes of the contest, opening up a wide 8-1 shot advantage. The endless pressure in the Stars defensive zone culminated in the games first goal after a regrettable turnover that Troy Terry deposited behind Oettinger. The goal by Terry represented the first time that the Stars trailed in the early season.
Following the Ducks goal, Mason McTavish put the Stars on the power-play, a unit that needs to find a spark after starting the season 0-6. Dallas would fail to capitalize on the advantage, unable to record a shot and exiting the two minutes down 11-1 on the shot counter.
Ryan Suter would give the Ducks additional oxygen when McTavish earned a tripping call on the Stars veteran. The relentless pressure from Anaheim was predicated on team speed and quick puck movement that gave the Stars defensive structure fits. Dallas survived the Ducks power-play, with Oettinger being the teams best penalty killer in the process. The best chance came from Dylan Strome, who found space in the high slot for a bang-bang play.
McTavish put the Stars back on the power-play after the Stars top line ran the Ducks around in the offensive zone. The second power-play of the opening period for the Stars sputtered again to start, unable to establish their zone entries. The second unit for Dallas was the more effective of the two, creating some space to funnel pucks towards the net. While the second attempt on the power-play was better, the Ducks still kept the Stars from scoring their first man advantage goal of the season.
As the period went along the Stars looked better, but still struggled against a Ducks team that was in attack mode. Mason Marchment put the Ducks back on the job, taking a hooking penalty in the Stars end. Dallas killed off the second Ducks power-play and limped into the first intermission, lucky to only trail by a goal.
Shots:
Dallas 7 Anaheim 17
Score
Dallas 0 Anaheim 1
Second Period
Thirty seconds into the period the Stars continued their sloppy play with Jani Hakanpää committing an interference penalty, putting the Ducks on their third power-play of the game. The kill for the Stars was perfect, generating more scoring chances than the Ducks over the two minutes. The marquee chance came courtesy of Esa Lindell, who fed a slick pass to Radek Faksa who just missed an in-tight shot on Gibson.
After a stretch where the Stars started to find their game, Anaheim gifted the Stars a golden opportunity to tie the game, taking a too-many-men penalty at the halfway mark of the period. Dallas would waste no time capitalizing with Roope Hintz scoring his first goal of the season, on a wicked shot over the shoulder of Gibson after he blazed his way through the defense. The goal for Hintz was the first power-play goal for the Stars on the season.
Holding the Ducks to 1 shot in the period, Ryan Suter was called for a questionable interference penalty on McTavish, handing the home team their fourth power-play of the evening. However, the advantage would be short lived when Trevor Zegras took a cross-checking penalty on Hakanpää, evening up the game at four-on-four.
Dallas firmly found their game in the second period, opening up an 8-2 shot advantage as the middle frame reaching the late stages. The Stars defense firmed up, and the offense started to flex their skill and depth on a soft Ducks defense. Had it not been for Gibson, Dallas could have opened up a lead on the Ducks, demonstrating how strong the 30 year-old net minder was on the evening.
After handing the Stars their fifth power-play, the Stars gained their first lead of the evening when Joe Pavelski redirected a Miro Heiskanen point shot past Gibson. The Pavelski goal was his second of the season and gave the Stars a 19-18 edge in shots, completing the effort of re-establishing their control over the hockey game.
Shots:
Dallas 19 Anaheim 18
Score:
Dallas 2 Anaheim 1
Third Period
Roster Update: Roope Hintz did not join the rest of the Stars on the bench to start the third period. However, he arrived later and took his normal seat. Jason Robertson would also leave the bench following a hit.
One minute into the period the Ducks broke on a two-on-one when Suter was caught cheating on a pinch. Terry slid the puck over to Carlsson, who put the puck over Oettinger for his first NHL goal and tied the game at 2-2. Jason Robertson would be hit hard shortly after the goal, laboring back to the Dallas bench, punctuating a tough two minute stretch to start the period.
Miro Heiskanen decided to tie the game by himself, albeit, with help from a Ducks skate, on a flashy rush up the ice that skirted behind Gibson. The goal highlighted a strong game for Heiskanen, who was his normal steady self defensively, while pitching in heavily offensively.
The remainder of the period transpired in an uneventful and infraction-less fashion. The Ducks pulled Gibson with under two minutes remaining, establishing a strong in-zone setup at six-on-five. Anaheim had a couple of chances, but were less than clean with the puck in this situation. While the Stars defense would bend, it would not break and the Stars escaped Anaheim with a 3-2 road win.
Shots:
Dallas 24 Anaheim 29
Score:
Dallas 3 Anaheim 2
Observations
- Injury News- Roope Hintz and Jason Robertson were either late coming out of the tunnel or went down the tunnel in the third period. Will be interesting to see what the news is there as the Stars return home for a home game Saturday.
- Jake Oettinger has been the Stars best player through the first three games of the season. It’s scary to see what the Stars would be without him net right now.
- Odd-man rushes are a problem so far in the early season. Dallas has given up too many odd-man rush chances off turnovers or sloppy puck play in the neutral zone.
- Jason Robertson needs to score a goal.
- Dallas pushed their record to 2-0-1 on the season, an important early two points in Anaheim as the rest of the top teams in the Western Conference just keep winning games.
- Home is where the heart is: Dallas takes the ice against a plucky and improved Philadelphia Flyers squad on Saturday at the American Airlines Center.