In their last 13 games versus the Vancouver Canucks, the Dallas Stars are 12-0-1 — their longest active streak against any team without a regulation loss currently. It’s these kind of milestones that are fun in a season in which fun has been hard to come by.
Speaking of fun, how about those buzzerbeater goals tonight? Dallas scored with just 8 seconds left in the first period to take a 2-1 lead. The Canucks decided they could do better and scored with 2 seconds left in the second period to tie the game.
Luckily, Dallas withstood that last minute strike and figured out how to take away a rare win when tied after two — not to mention, a rare win on the road. They have Tyler Seguin’s power play goal to thank for the momentum in the third period, and Radek Faksa to thank for the insurance goal to seal the win.
Kari Lehtonen made some stellar saves when he was under onslaught at times tonight, and the Stars finally broke their streak of 5+ goals against in the past three games as well as snapping their three game losing streak.
It was a lot more fun than many expected, and worth the late-night start time if you stayed up for it.
THE GOOD
*Ales Hemsky had a very good game, generating several of Dallas’ most potent offensive chances and cashing in on one of them.
*Jamie Benn (6’2”, 210 lbs) was sat on his backside by a clean hit by Canucks defenseman Nikita Tryamkin (6’7”, 265 lbs). Even though Tryamkin had more than few inches on pounds on him, the Stars captain immediately got up and dropped the gloves to send the message that he wouldn’t be pushed around. He actually got quite a few jabs in while Tryamkin tried to hold him at arm’s length:
A BRUHAHA pic.twitter.com/3gn2xP16zB
— Dylan Nadwodny (@dnadders) March 17, 2017
*The Stars penalty kill was able to keep the first three power play opportunities by the Canucks off the scoreboard. Now, how much of that was actual good penalty killing and how much of that is the Canucks’ terrible power play is debatable.
*They scored a power play goal and it was kind of like seeing a unicorn!
*This:
Somebody call the cops. Devin Shore just got away with armed robbery. Faksa cashes the money. 4-2 Stars. pic.twitter.com/ZJ78cr2jKd
— Dylan Nadwodny (@dnadders) March 17, 2017
*Dallas played with a lot of pace tonight, looking a little more like last season’s team than they have at times this season.
*Remi Elie was out on the ice with the Canucks net empty, showing that he has earned some trust of the coaching staff to help lock down a win.
THE BAD
*Jamie Benn did not return to the game for the third period. He was out with the mysterious “upper body injury”. In a season in which the Stars can’t catch a break on the injury front, maybe they’re getting them all out this season so that they’re healthy all next year.
*This news came out right after John Klingberg returned to the game after missing the last several minutes of the second frame after a blocked shot caught him unaware. He seemed to take it right in an unpadded area on his leg, so hopefully it’s just a “dead leg” that kept him out and not an injury he decided to try to play through.
THE UGLY
*This wasn’t a great play by anyone on ice in Victory Green:
How did the Stars lose a 6-foot-7 defenseman and let him score?
¯_(ツ)_/¯ pic.twitter.com/Ink0iVG2qr
— Dylan Nadwodny (@dnadders) March 17, 2017