The Dallas Stars opened the regular season with a 4-1 win over the Nashville Predators. Mason Marchment had two goals, Jake Oettinger made 31 saves, Nils Lundkvist recorded his first point as a Star, and Wyatt Johnston made history.
Mason Marchment Magic
Marchment was signed in the offseason to provide some secondary scoring for the Stars, a team desperate for goal scoring the last several seasons. His first goal was on a breakaway where he beat three different Predators players and then went one-on-one with Juuse Saros and won.
Mason Marchment, that was gross. pic.twitter.com/rb0vSB305W
— Matthew DeFranks (@MDeFranks) October 14, 2022
His second goal gave Dallas a 2-0 lead on the power play late in the first period.
Jim Nill’s New Toys Made A Huge Impact
Marchment wasn’t the only new player that made an impact on the game tonight. Nils Lundkvist, acquired in a trade in early September, recorded his first assist on Marchment’s power play goal as a Star. Overall, he looked like an every day NHLer on the ice, though there were some times where he turned the puck over trying to do too much through the neutral zone. Sometimes you need to hit the short pass to move the puck up rather than look for the homerun stretch pass.
Wyatt Johnston Scores His First
It really was a spectacular goal that Johnston scored in his NHL debut. “You just grow up dreaming of playing in your first NHL game, and I had a chance to play tonight,” Johnston told ESPN in the post-game interview. “I was just so excited and lucky enough to get my first goal, so it was really cool.”
Special Teams Were Special
The Stars went 2-for-4 on the power play, even though their first shift out on the ice with the man advantage looked discombobulated to say the least. Seguin was a difference maker on the power play, recording two of his three assists in setting up power play goals for his linemates as part of the first unit on the ice. Puck movement was crisper by the Stars after the first crack at it, and the Predators were moved out of position more often as the Stars worked the puck around in the offensive zone.
It’s Like He Never Took A Summer Off
Jake Oettinger made 31 saves on 32 shots, and really should have had a shutout as he barely missed gloving Ryan Johnansen’s shot. He looked dialed in and had to make some big saves on times when the Stars would get hemmed into their own zone for stretches. He was also a huge reason the Predators went 5-for-5 on the penalty kill.
Just Say No….to Arena Proposals
There was apparently a shirtless(?) gentleman that decided to make a wedding proposal to his lady in the New York Islanders arena tonight. The lady’s answer wasn’t shown in the arena, so presumably she said no. Gee, couldn’t imagine why you wouldn’t want to be embarrassed in such a manner in front of 15,000+ random strangers. To add insult to injury, the Florida Panthers scored almost immediately and the Islanders went on to lose the game. Coincidence? Probably. But in case you were considering such an act, maybe contemplate this story as a precautionary tale.