Stars Stop The Skid, Defeating Blackhawks 3-1

The Stars come back from the Global Series with a big win at home.

Despite some early lapses, the Dallas Stars found a way to win, securing a 3-1 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks. The Stars were able to take control with a dominant second period, a solid goaltending performance, and timely goals from their middle six to snap their two-game losing streak (does two count as a streak?).

First Period

As expected, the opening period had some sloppiness from both teams. Dallas had the advantage in possession time, but they allowed multiple 2-on-1s against that led to high-danger scoring chances. In addition to the odd-man rushes, the Stars’ sloppy passing resulted in multiple defensive zone giveaways that directly led to three scoring chances. Luckily, Jake Oettinger was up to the task and remained perfect through the 1^st period.

Halfway through the period, after back-to-back hardworking shifts in the offensive zone by the 3^rd and 4^th lines, Sam Steel was able to beat Arvid Soderblom blocker side on a partially screened shot.

Just before the zone time that led to the opening goal, Esa Lindell made a fantastic defensive play on Connor Bedard, who looked to be free and clear in behind the defense. Lindell was able to catch up to Bedard and expertly timed a stick lift to prevent the youngster from even taking a shot.

Shots: DAL-16 CHI-5
Score: DAL-1 CHI-0

Second Period

With better puck security, the Stars dominated possession time throughout the period. Chicago did not have a single shot on net until over ten minutes into the period, including a power play opportunity.

About halfway through the period, Dallas’ constant offensive zone pressure led to a Tyler Seguin goal on a delayed penalty. Nills Lundkvist joined the rush and drew a penalty, and in the ensuing chaos in front of the net, Steel was able to get the puck through the crease to Seguin (who was literally straddling the icing line) on the backdoor. Seguin banked the puck in off Soderblom’s arm and into the net for the Stars’ second goal.

On the first shift after the goal, Chicago almost immediately punched back, taking five shots on Oettinger in a span of ten seconds. Oettinger showed his recent growth as a goalie making those tough saves after seeing no action yet in the period, and only stopping a total of five shots up to that point in the game.

Shots: DAL-29 CHI-14
Score: DAL-2 CHI-0

Third Period

The third period started off with a deflected puck that ended up at the top of the Dallas’ crease, forcing Oettinger to make an alert stop only 30 seconds in to keep Chicago scoreless.

About 6 minutes into the period, our old friend Craig Smith came flying down the wing, taking a shot through Miro Heiskanen, producing a rebound off Oettinger’s pad that went directly to Ilya Mikheyev. Taking a quick shot, Mikheyev forced Oettinger to go into the full splits to make the save. Oettinger was able to take just enough off the shot to keep it from going in behind him, allowing Heiskanen to clear it out of the crease.

The next couple of shifts had the ice tilted in Chicago’s favor, forcing Oettinger into more tough saves and eventually leading to a Chicago power play 8 minutes into the period.

On the power play, Chicago’s Ryan Donato was able to make an excellent cross-ice, backhand pass with his face against the glass to a wide-open Bedard, who was able to find Tyler Bertuzzi on the doorstep for the redirection goal.

The next few minutes of the third period were uneventful, with fatigue apparent in both teams’ legs. The Stars seemed to be content to let the game come to them and just continue to shut down Chicago’s forecheck and let Oettinger bail them out when things broke down.

With a little over a minute left in the game, Chicago pulled Soderberg and nearly cashed in almost immediately when a blocked shot dropped in the crease, leading to the typical net-front mosh pit. The Stars were able to clear the puck out of the crease but not the zone.

The puck ended up down low, and after a brief board battle it popped out to Jamie Benn. Benn got the puck to Logan Stankoven, who was able to find paydirt with a backhand empty-net goal.

Shots: DAL-40 CHI-26
Score: DAL-3 CHI-1

Three Stars of the Game ⭐️Sam Steel ⭐️⭐️Jake Oettinger ⭐️⭐️⭐️Jamie Benn

My Thoughts

The Good

• Oettinger was fantastic and probably deserved another shutout.
• Seguin once again finds twine after coming back from resting his nagging injury.
• The reunited third line of Benn – Johnston – Stankoven seemed to click well and had a ton of chances especially early in the game.
• Esa Lindell had a sneaky good game, shutting down Bedard and picking up an assist while spending the majority of his time paired with Lundkvist who has definitely taken a step in the right direction this year.
• Logan Stankoven is so much fun to watch. He just has no quit in his game. He literally never gives up on a play. It could be because of the weird schedule causing the team to sag a in the later stages of the game, but Stankoven’s continual pursuit stood out even more than usual.
• Benn DESTROYED Bedard on faceoffs tonight and had a very solid overall game tonight. He officially went 16 for 16 but I’m pretty sure he lost one with 6:45 left in the 3^rd period 🤫.

The Bad

• The power play went 0/3 and seemed to be plagued by similar issues that kept them from scoring during the first few games of the season. They seemed infatuated with making plays through the middle of the ice. Yes, changing the point of attack is important, but forcing it through the middle of the ice when everything is closed down is not the answer. I’d prefer a point shot into traffic looking for a tip or a fluky bounce if the PK isn’t giving you anything.
• The Stars could have put this game away in the 2^nd period if they were able to finish better. It’s a stark contrast to the beginning of last year and was part of the problem they had at the end of last season and into the postseason. The opportunities are there, they just need to be better at capitalizing on them. Except Seguin, the guy’s shooting percentage is close to 50% which is crazy!
• Where are our top players? Did Robertson’s surgery really set him back this much? Roope has been my favorite player since his yo-yo season in 2018-19, but he’s been all but invisible in most games. Miro has had flashes of brilliance, but it hasn’t been nearly consistent enough.
• The entire defense isn’t producing enough. They started the night out being more aggressive offensively, jumping in the rush, activating in the offensive zone, and being more liberal with their shooting, but there’s only 2 goals scored by a defenseman this season.
• We need to re-instate the Pav’s school of tipping. Did they just completely abandon that tactic because he left? There seems to be only 2-3 tip attempts per game, when last year most of their PP goals were tips.
• Let’s not do the Robertson – Hintz – Dadonov thing again.

And here’s one of my go to graphical summaries for games by Moneypuck. In my opinion it makes it really easy to see the flow of the game, and in this instance, how little Oettinger had to do until halfway through the game.