They don’t ask how, just how many, right?
The Dallas Stars used three minutes and 31 seconds surrounding the first intermission to score four goals on Ryan Miller and the Vancouver Canucks en route to a 6-3 win at American Airlines Center Tuesday.
They spent most of the remainder of the night in their own end, however, as the Sedins and company poured shots on Kari Lehtonen to the tune of a 46-28 advantage.
Not a good long term plan, perhaps, but effective, and in this case crowd pleasing, as Stars fans went home happy for the first time since game four against Anaheim in April.
After being on the wrong end of a bevy of bad luck Saturday night the Stars would start this one with a bit of good fortune coming their way when Ryan Garbutt’s centering attempt found its way past Ryan Miller off of a Vancouver defender for a 1-0 lead.
A pretty power play wrister from Erik Cole would make it 2-0 and then the good luck continued when Ryan Miller was taken out of a play by a teammate, allowing Tyler Seguin and a gaping net to combine to give Dallas a 3-0 lead at the first intermission.
Then the real fun started as the Stars’ lethal top line struck just seconds into the middle frame. Jamie Benn from Tyler Seguin and Jason Spezza. Followed 29 seconds later by Cody Eakin from Ryan Garbutt, and like that it was 5-0.
Noted Star-killer Radmi Vrbata would puncture Lehtonen to cut it to 5-1, but Erik Cole then potted his second of the night to restore a five-goal lead.
And then things got understandably dull, and then a little scrambly, and then kind of alarming.
The Canucks were not discouraged by the odds, pelting a stellar Kari Lehtonen with a barrage of pucks late in the second and into the third, eventually scoring twice despite having a goal waived off, and at a 44-26 margin in shots, a 6-3 lead didn’t feel so great.
Now, it’s just “score effects,” is the chorus of many. It was. A team will relax and stop fighting so hard with a 6-1 lead. It’s human nature, to an extent, but some of the plays in the defensive zone were pretty troubling. The Stars went for most of the third period without a quality scoring chance as they capitulated.
A late power play with just under six minutes remaining would settle things down, and satisfied with a likely victory, the crowd started to file out.
So the theme off the season continues with points, even victory, and plenty of coach-able moments where the team’s defense (forwards and d-men) were concerned.
Kari Lehtonen was nothing short of phenomenal in putting deodorant on some pretty smelly moments. The Seguin line continued to do what they wanted, at least, in the substantive portion of this one.
One of the real bright spots was the trio of Shawn Horcoff, Erik Cole, and Colton Sceviour, who generated a couple of goals and additional quality looks.
Dallas moves to 3-1-2 on the year- Points in five of the first six games, and they get their first win in front of the home crowd this year. Next up- a back-to-back set on the east coast Friday and Saturday night starting in New Jersey with the 3-2-1 Devils.