With six different scorers and a dialed-in Jake Oettinger, the Stars stay undefeated at home.
This week, the Dallas Stars came home from the East Coast fresh off a 7-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Tonight, they hung a touchdown on another Eastern foe with a 7-2 win over the Boston Bruins.
It seems crazy. To be honest, it looked a little crazy, too. Let’s skim the results.
First Period
Did you want another one like the one on Monday? Matt Duchene got the game off to a propitious start with this humdinger, just over one minute after the opening puck drop. Better still, Tyler Seguin got his 800th career point with the secondary assist; Mason Marchment got the primary.
They said this. Believe them.
That said, it’s not as if the Stars were dominating every shift. Both teams came out flying, trading opportunities frenetically and racking up double-digit shots on goal between them within the first seven minutes.
Under the circumstances, it seemed inevitable that mistakes would be made, and Mason Lohrei filled the order by holding on a breakaway and setting up a penalty shot.
Evgenii Dadonov, who came into the game having scored on three out of four such attempts, improved his career stats with a beautifully placed wrist shot that stayed low and went directly through Jeremy Swayman’s five-hole. (Fun fact: Daddy now has the only successful penalty shot in the league so far this season.)
If you wanted dinner and a show, you might have liked that heavyweight bout between Jamie Benn and Nikita Zadorov. Benn took a boarding call with a hard hit on Brandon Carlo, who looked badly shaken and needed several minutes just to leave the ice. Zadorov did not like that. (This is an understatement to make a humorous point.)
Dadonov had to serve the Captain’s time in the sin bin after Benn and Zadorov took five for fighting. The Stars killed the penalty, but they still lost their two-goal lead moments later. The Bruins, down a defender and frustrated by Oettinger, started playing even angrier – and it paid off as Charlie Coyle scored a tip-in off assists by Trent Frederic and Lohrei.
That ended the scoring for the period, but the Stars were just getting started.
Second Period
Another high-energy start for both teams, and this time the Stars made the first mistake. Boston got their second power play of the game after Roope Hintz took a call for tripping David Pastrňák. The PK came through again – and the first 15 minutes of the second frame continued much as the first did.
It can be a lot of fun to watch some of the NHL’s best players skate fast and trade shots, but it often leaves us with little to talk about in a general recap. So when Logan Stankoven scored at 14:15 off assists from Benn and Thomas Harley, it was a like a gust of fresh, icy air.
(ATTENTION PHWA MEMBERS: Logan Stankoven is available for all your 2025 Calder Trophy voting needs. When you mark that ballot…just say Stanky! Thank you in advance.)
Even better, rookie Oskar Bäck tallied his first NHL goal just over a minute later. The 24-year-old forward gave the Stars a three-goal lead with this poke shot. Colin Blackwell and Esa Lindell, clearly wanting in on some of that scoring fun, took the assists.
And if you took the side bet on “Evgenii Dadonov goes hat-trick watch,” well, you get to buy the donuts tomorrow. Just look at the delayed snapper he used to beat Swayman with 11 seconds left in the period. The assists went to Sam Steel and Bäck, which made it an extra-special night for the rookie.
Third Period
No one sleeps! The shots just kept coming from both squads, and so did the goals. Roope Hintz got this apple 47 seconds into the frame. Jason Robertson and Brendan Smith came in with the assists.
But generally speaking, you have to get at least a little lucky to keep Pastrňák off the score sheet for an entire game – and sure enough, he got a pride tally for the Bruins about three-and-a-half minutes into the period. Morgan Geekie got the assist on this wrister.
What can you say? Mush liked that five-goal lead and wanted to keep it. Here he is at 17:19, slapping in another for what has surely become the Stars’ new superline. Seguin and Duchene were on hand for the assists, because of course they were.
The Stars have won every home game so far this season. They hit the road to take on the surging Minnesota Wild on Saturday night. See you in the GDT.