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Stars Fail to Shine, Lose 3-2 to Flames

The Stars momentarily tied the game at 2-2 in the second period, but ultimately the Flames take Game 1.

It was a typical Dallas Stars game.

The Calgary Flames scored first (as per tradition) on a power play goal by Dillon Dube against Anton Khudobin, who got the nod in net ahead of a healthy Ben Bishop. Dube then scored his second of the evening with a couple minutes left, putting the Stars down 2-0 after 20 minutes.

A bizarre nine-second sequence in the middle frame saw the Stars tie it up with two consecutive goals, although the NHL kept changing their minds about who exactly scored the goals. That joy was short-lived, however, as Rasmus Andersson soon found the net to put the Flames up by one again.

Calgary then held onto that lead for the entire third period, with the Stars managing just two shots on net for roughly 12-13 minutes. A delay-of-game penalty in the final minute by Mark Giordano, the Flames’ best defender, gave the Stars an excellent opportunity to tie it up, but they failed to do so. There would be no quadruple overtime in Rogers Palace:

If you want to look at the silver lining, it was a rather close game, with neither team really dominating play. A pessimist will point out, however, that the Stars’ lone goals were mostly luck-based, whereas the Flames scored with skill. Stephen Johns also exited the game early due to injury, and his partner, Andrej Sekera, had a game he would very much like to forget.

That all being said, it’s a seven-game series. The Flames take Game 1, but there’s still plenty of hockey left to be played.

First Period

The game began without much fanfare, with each team taking turns making the occasional shot on net. The best early scoring opportunity came five minutes in when Miro Heiskanen set up Denis Gurianov for a point-blank shot, which sadly rang off the post.

Roughly 10 minutes in, Alexander Radulov went to the box for interference. Eighty seconds later, Milan Lucic made the Stars pay by finding a wide-open Dillon Dube on the rush, who proceeded to score with a one-timer:

Corey Perry soon tried to spark a fire in his teammates by fighting Matthew Tkachuk, which was a good trade-off from the Stars’ perspective. A couple minutes later, Dube went to the box himself after delivering a cross-check from behind that sent Jason Dickinson to the locker room.

This being the Stars, they of course didn’t score on the power play. Dube then had a breakaway opportunity, but shot it straight into Khudobin’s chest. He wouldn’t be denied again, however, as he later undressed Andrej Sekera and Khudobin to get his second of the period:

That would be it for the period, and the Stars headed to the locker room down 0—”Du”.

Score: Dallas 0, Calgary 2
Shots: Dallas 7, Calgary 12

Second Period

The first half of the middle frame was rather uneventful — the Stars were outshooting the Flames by a decent margin, but they were mostly low-scoring opportunities from a distance.

But sometimes, all you need to do to score is “spray and pray.” Eleven minutes in, a shot by Gurianov ricocheted off of Joe Pavelski’s elbow and past Cam Talbot to put Dallas on the board:

Nine seconds later, Jamie Benn scored from the blue line to tie it up, setting a franchise record for the shortest time between goals in playoff history.

This short burst of goals made Stars fans everywhere happy, which is of course unacceptable. Thus Rasmus Andersson reestablished the status quo by shooting the puck off of Sekera’s stick and past Khudobin into the corner pocket:

After that, not much else happened for the remaining four minutes, and the Stars would finish the second down by only one.

Score: Dallas 2, Calgary 3
Shots: Dallas 19, Calgary 19

Third Period

Four minutes into the third, the Stars had a 3-on-1 against the Flames with a chance to tie it up. Unfortunately, Radulov opted to hold onto the puck instead of passing, and after some hesitation, his shot on net was stopped by Talbot.

It took another eight-and-a-half minutes for the Stars to register their second shot on goal. Despite trailing by one, the Stars struggled to generate offense until the final five minutes or so. The Flames were more than happy to sit and protect their lead, outshooting the Stars but not by much.

Khudobin was pulled with roughly a minute remaining to give Dallas the extra skater, at which point Mark Giordano accidentally shot the puck out of play and received a delay-of-game penalty. That gave Dallas 50 seconds of 6-on-4 action, but it wasn’t enough — Dallas couldn’t out a third past Talbot, and Calgary took Game 1.

Final Score: Dallas 2, Calgary 3
Final Shots: Dallas 26, Calgary 26

Mood:

Game 2 is scheduled for Thursday, August 13 at 9:30 p.m. CT.

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