After clawing their way back from a 1-7-1 start to the season with a 12-game point streak, the Dallas Stars are slowly falling back down. The Stars were simply embarrassed by the Winnipeg Jets, losing 5-1 in a game that would have been 10-1 had it not been for the stellar play of Anton Khudobin.
The loss is Dallas’ fourth in a row, all four of which come against Central Division rivals. The Stars still sit in a playoff spot, but given they’ve been outscored 13-4 during the streak, things aren’t looking too great. Especially when all but two teams in the West are within five points of Dallas, most with games in hand.
The Stars will have their chance for revenge when they face the Jets again on Thursday. Puck drops at 7:30 p.m. CT in Dallas.
First Period
It was a less-than-ideal start for Dallas, as Patrik Laine (who else?) scored just 13 seconds into the game. Luckily Kelly Forbes is good at his job, and the Stars successful overturned the goal after challenging for offside.
The Stars obviously felt bad about taking away the goal, so they took an Alexander Radulov Stick Infraction TM to put Winnipeg on the power play. They then gave Mark Scheifele a wide-open net to shoot into, but the Jets center somehow missed his mark. The Jets’ top unit proceeded to get multiple high-quality scoring chances, but despite the Stars’ best effort, they failed to give up a goal.
No need to worry, though — it only took a couple more minutes before Nikolaj Ehlers got one past Anton Khudobin. The Jets continued to bring the heat, severely outplaying the Stars throughout the rest of the period. Yet somehow the Jets failed to score another, and the Stars headed to the locker room only down by one.
Score: Dallas 0, Winnipeg 1
Shots: Dallas 3, Winnipeg 8
Second Period
The Stars started the period with an early power play as Josh Morrissey went to the box for holding, but they failed to make anything of it. Khudobin would go on to stop a breakaway opportunity by Ehlers, but not much later a deflection by Kyle Connor snuck by him, putting the Jets up by two.
Jim Montgomery called a timeout to try to let his team regroup, but it didn’t seem to do much. After Khudobin blocked a shot by Morrissey, the puck rebounded and deflected off of Mattias Janmark into the net. Shortly afterwards, Winnipeg almost scored again. And again. And again.
Fast forward five minutes and Tyler Seguin headed to the box for cross-checking Mathieu Perrault. Obviously inspired, Laine decided to cross check Blake Comeau just 30 seconds later, giving fans some 4-on-4 hockey action. That seemed to do the trick for Dallas, as Miro Heiskanen proceeded to embarrass the Jets’ defense and snipe one past Connor Hellebuyck:
Miro Heiskanen for Norris. pic.twitter.com/fnFNoW2mL8
— Taylor Baird (@taylordbaird) December 4, 2019
Of course, the Stars can’t have nice things, so Laine decided to score for real this time and get one past Khudobin with just 30 seconds left on the clock. Turns out Dallas would finish the second down by three after all.
Score: Dallas 1, Winnipeg 4
Shots: Dallas 14, Winnipeg 21
Third Period
The final period was marginally better to begin with, in that Dallas wasn’t getting absolutely embarrassed right out of the gate. About seven minutes in, a scuffle broke out as Ehlers and Jamie Benn took offsetting slashing penalties while Corey Perry and Adam Lowry dropped the gloves briefly.
Not even a minute later, Denis Gurianov joined them in the box with a high-sticking penalty, which was immediately answered by a Kyle Connor slash. Alas, the Stars didn’t score this time during the 4-on-4, nor on the 30-second power play that followed. There was an 3-on-1 rush that looked promising, but the Stars squandered it, failing to even get a shot off.
With six minutes left, Scheifele joined in on the fun, scoring on a wraparound that Khudobin had no chance of stopping. That would be the icing on the cake for Winnipeg, and the blowout was finished.
Final Score: Dallas 1, Winnipeg 5
Final Shots: Dallas 27, Winnipeg 30
Mood: