After a come-back win against the Edmonton Oilers, head coach Glen Gulutzan stated that he though the team was being too tentative in the first periods and that is why they seem to struggle with scoring first. But he made it a point to say that he thought they were very close to shaking that off.
It would appear that he was correct in last night’s game against the Anaheim Ducks. Not only did they score first, they dominated from puck drop. Just five minutes into the game Nikita Nesterenko gets called for hooking and the Stars would go on the man-advantage. A slick pass from Mikko Rantanen to Wyatt Johnston who was in the middle of the Ducks’ defenders put the Stars on the board first. Dallas did not let up there though.
They would get their second chance at the power-play late in the first period when Ian Moore gets called for hooking. However, this time, the Stars would only need ten seconds to make this one count. Johnston gets his second of the game and ninth of the season by tipping a shot from Miro Heiskanen past Lukas Dostal.
The second frame was all gas and no brakes and not in the good way for the Stars. The Ducks were on the man-advantage to begin the period and they would capitalize on the chance when the Stars went for an untimely change on the penalty kill and then Chris Kreider beats Jake Oettinger who plays the puck at a bad angle. Just 92 seconds later Ian Moore ties it up for the Ducks and it is clear they are feeding off of the momentum.
Though things started to feel a bit better when Tyler Seguin gave the Stars the lead again. Oddly enough, it was his first goal in his career against the Ducks. It only took him 30 games against Anaheim over his 15 years in the NHL. But the lead wouldn’t last long when Cutter Gauthier, who scored his 11th goal and tied Sidney Crosby for the lead, ties it up again.
Once again, the Ducks do not let off the gas and Olen Zellweger scores the Ducks second power-play goal of the game on an Alexander Petrovic tripping call. The shot attempts in the second period were 31-5 in favor of the Ducks.
Going into the third period, the Stars were down by one goal, but that lead would be doubled just 16 seconds into the period, when Kreider tips one in past Oettinger. The Stars have been erasing two goal deficits left and right this season, so there was no reason to panic with nearly 20 minutes left to play. That being said, the Stars got right to work over a minute later, once again on the power-play, this time it was Rantanen.
The whole game had been a parade to the penalty box for both teams, but the third period took the cake with five penalties between the Stars and Ducks. The Stars were on their second attempt of the period when an attempt to bank the puck off of Dostal misses the net and makes it to Troy Terry for a 3v1. Leo Carlsson catches the pass and beats Oettinger, who has no chance.
One would think that the Ducks regaining a two-goal lead would have taken all of the wind out of Dallas’ sails, but they were not going down without a fight. With almost four minutes left on the clock, head coach Glen Gulutzan pulled the goalie, giving the Stars a 6-on-5 advantage. The Stars scoring almost felt inevitable with the way the man-advantage had been going for them all night and this time was no exception. This time, it was Roope Hintz, who finally made it back into the lineup after missing five games.
With the game within one goal, the Stars went right back to 6-on-5 hockey, pulling Oettinger to give themselves a chance to tie up the game, but the dagger would come in the form of a Mason McTavish empty net goal.
After the game, Gultuzan stated the team “buried ourselves in the second period.” Luckily for the Stars, the season is still early, but there are several areas of their game that needs to get on track sooner than later. The Stars take on the Nashville Predators on Saturday.
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