In the second game of the back-to-back for both teams, Toronto for Ottawa and Montreal for Dallas, both games were played on Sunday with all four teams trying to pick up the W. The Stars needed the win more than Ottawa because the Stars were one point behind St. Louis who are fifth in the NHL and first in the Central.
The first couple minutes of the game wasn’t played very well for the Stars. Two minutes in, the Senators had already registered five shots against the Stars and the Stars still had 0. However, the Stars weren’t going to stay behind the game for long with John Klingberg’s shot that bounced off a couple Senators and into the net right past Craig Anderson.
The Senators were the first team to the power play with a Jamie Benn goaltender interference and the Senators strike quickly with a tic-tac-toe from Chabot to Tkachuk for Pageau to take the shot and score.
Later on in the period, after a lot of trading hits and trading shots, Anthony Duclair took a shot rebounded off Khudobin which he then snagged again and passed it to Brady Tkachuk. Tkachuk then banked it in through the empty net to tie the game up at one. An offensive draw then took place where Miro Heiskanen was quick to the puck, passing it to Stephen Johns standing by in the slot who took a slapper and launched it right past Anderson. This would tie the game between Dallas and Ottawa at two apiece.
45 seconds into the second, Brady Tkachuk would get called for embellishment while Corey Perry was called for tripping. The second period was a lot more shooting and a lot more hitting with 47 total shots with seven minutes left to play in the frame. But other than the first assessed penalty, the second period was largely unproductive. 56 shots combined, 23 for Dallas and 33 for Ottawa.
Less than a minute into the third, goaltender Anton Khudobin took an interference penalty as he grabbed Tkachuk while Tkachuk was circling behind the net. Then with 10 minutes to go, Tyler Ennis scored off a rebound, this being created by Colin White.
Five minutes later, Joe Pavelski continued his point streak with a goal past Craig Anderson after a Tyler Seguin cross-ice pass.
Anton Khudobin then stuffed Duclair’s breakaway attempt, this keeping the score tied at three apiece. As the game entered extra time, this meant that the Dallas Stars would be guaranteed to put up one of two points much needed. Breakaways galore and one is bound to get past, but for which team? Artem Anisimov then finished the job, potting the puck past Anton Khudobin for the Senators victory.
My Three Stars Of The Game
First Star – Stephen Johns – Goal, Two blocked shots
Second Star – Tyler Seguin – Two assists, One hit, One blocked shot, 65% Face-off
Third Star – Roman Polak – 0 points, Four hits, Two blocked shots
While I am disappointed that the Dallas Stars even had to go to overtime in Ottawa in the first place, I’m not surprised. The team is tired, they’ve played three games in the last four nights, all of which were on the road. It’s exhausting. All-in-all, I’m happy with how the Stars played on Sunday even though they didn’t get the two points.