The Dallas Stars and Arizona Coyotes fought for the second time in three nights, this time out in Arizona. Ben Bishop looked to remain strong while rookie Adin Hill was hoping to follow up on an outstanding debut.
One of the only changes to either lineup was bringing in Jamie Oleksiak to play alongside Marc Methot, sending Julius Honka to the press box. Unfortunately, things did not go well for Oleksiak early.
He took the first minor penalty of the game three minutes in. The Stars outstanding penalty-kill went to work and were able to kill the penalty with relative ease. However, that penalty-kill had a lasting impact on the following play.
Oleksiak re-joined the play out of the box as the third forward, but failed to get off the ice. The Coyotes would capitalize on the Big Rig playing wing. Oliver Ekman-Larsson fired a shot into the slot where Derek Stepan would tip it home for the game’s first goal six minutes in.
It wouldn’t take long for Dallas to bounce back.
The Stars received a powerplay of their own soon after the Stepan tally, and Jamie Benn wasted no time on it. The puck found Benn alone in front of the net, who then deked Hill out of his pads and tucked a goal home.
Dallas wasn’t finished there.
A great forechecking play by Pitlick (which is becoming a redundancy) gave him an opportunity to fire the puck towards the net-mouth, causing a bit of chaos. The result was rewarding for Dallas, as Luke Schenn put the puck into his own goal attempting to clear it from the front. The goal was credited to Faksa Pitlick Faksa.
Later on, Marc Methot’s minor would put the Coyotes back on the powerplay but once again the Stars’ penalty-killing came through and killed it off.
The Stars would then receive a powerplay of their own late in the period, which carried over to the second.
While Dallas was able to make the puck sing with that powerplay on a fresh sheet in the second, they weren’t able to generate much of a scoring threat.
Speaking of scoring threats, let’s talk about Stepan again.
Stepan would pot his second of the game just three minutes into the period off a big rebound given up by Bishop. It was a tough play for Bishop and Stepan was just in the right place at the right time. They’re going to love him in Arizona.
Things quieted down a bit for the middle portion of the second until finally the play started to ramp up.
With under three minutes to go, Radulov set up Roussel right in front of the net which Hill turned aside with the left pad. It was a beautiful pass from Radulov who was nearing the end of what seemed like a five minute shift.
Not long after that, Stepan found himself with a semi-breakaway which Bishop turned aside poke-check style. Aggressive, talented plays like that really has Stars fans excited for a full season of Ben Bishop.
The period ended with some more chaos in front of the Arizona net as Shore was close to getting his first of the season.
In the third, both teams decided to put on a show for the fans in the building as strong defense was absent for the first half of the frame. Stephen Johns got things started with a smart pinch and a short-side goal to break the 2-2 tie.
Immediately following the goal, Oleksiak was pick-pocketed by Max Domi, who came in alone on Bishop. Bishop once again turned away a quality chance, momentarily bailing out Oleksiak.
A few minutes later, he was not able to replicate that bail-out.
Oleksiak would bury a shot into the shin pads of Clayton Keller and Keller broke away with the puck. He beat Bishop one-on-one and knotted the score up at three.
The teams would continue to swap chances until the tie was once again broken a couple of minutes later, this time by Tyler Seguin. Benn fired a wrist-shot straight off the crossbar and Seguin was able to tuck the rebound past Adin Hill.
The Stars were able to kill off another minor soon after the Seguin goal, this one taken in the offensive zone by Elie. They stifled the offense for awhile following the powerplay opportunity for Arizona. With a few minutes to go, they were able to turn strong defense into a strong counter-attack.
Benn carried the puck to the Arizona red-line and slammed on the brakes, losing Ekman-Larsson in the process. He would then dish over to Seguin who destroyed the puck and sent it flying past Hill for his second goal of the game. Radulov was in front of Hill with a nice drive-by screen, as well.
That goal would prove to be the difference-maker, as Keller would manage to get his second of the game with less than 20 seconds to play in regulation. The Stars were able to withstand a late flurry from the Coyotes to win their third straight game, 5-4 being the final.