Cody Eakin might not have had a goal or an assist for the Dallas Stars in a 3-2 win Tuesday against the Edmonton Oilers at American Airlines Center, but he may have made the play of the game late in regulation. With Dallas up a goal, a shot by Oilers center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins with 4:14 remaining in regulation had gotten behind Stars goaltender Kari Lehtonen and the puck appeared poised to cross the line, but Eakin alertly cleared it from the paint. Dallas got two goals from Tyler Seguin and a goal and an assist from John Klingberg. Seguin, who increased his League-leading goal total to 18, scored each of his goals in the second period. Boyd Gordon scored shorthanded in the first period for Edmonton, which has lost seven games in a row. Taylor Hall also scored early in the third. Seguin scored his first 5:59 into the second when he beat Oilers goaltender Viktor Fasth top-shelf with a backhand shot after Dallas caught Edmonton on a line change. Seguin's second came with 2:18 remaining in the period when he roofed a wrist shot from the high slot. The circumstances surrounding Seguin's first goal was definitely a sore spot for Edmonton coach Dallas Eakins. The Stars scored first when Klingberg scored his third of the season with a slap shot from the neutral zone 12:49 into the game. After Jason Spezza won a faceoff in the left circle, Klingberg gained possession and after taking a few strides launched a 74-foot blast that managed to beat Fasth low on the glove side. Klingberg has a five-game point streak. Kari Lehtonen stopped 35 shots for Dallas, who have won three straight. Seguin had another quality scoring chance with two minutes remaining in the first. The Stars were on the power play after Edmonton defenseman Andrew Ference was called for holding at 17:53. Seguin nearly connected on a slap shot from the left circle, but his blast instead found the right post. The Oilers tied it when Gordon collected his own rebound for a shorthanded goal with 30 seconds left in the first period. Jeff Petry assisted by clearing the puck from the Edmonton zone and after Stars defenseman Trevor Daley was unable to intercept near the Oilers blue line, Gordon had a breakaway. Lehtonen denied Gordon's primary wrist shot, but he was there to knock in the rebound for his fourth goal of the season. It was Edmonton's third shorthanded goal. Each of Gordon's goals have come over the Oilers' past 10 games. Dallas had an apparent goal by Eakin at 9:02 of the second disallowed after Stars center Ryan Garbutt had pushed Petry into Fasth, which prevented him from making a play on the puck. Hall cut the Dallas lead to 3-2 5:59 into the second with a snap from the right circle. Hall knocked in a pass from Eberle, who assisted with a nice backhand from behind the net after receiving the puck from Nugent-Hopkins. It was Hall's 100th career goal. Fasth, who stopped 30 shots, denied Seguin's bid for the hat trick with a glove save with 1:45 remaining. The Oilers nearly forced overtime with nine seconds left, but David Perron's shot off a wraparound hit the crossbar.
Stars Quotes
Cody Eakin: "I kind of lost sight of it and then it was right in front of me, so I whacked it back through Kari's legs. I probably could have pulled it out, but at that point you get as far away from the goal line as you can."Tyler Seguin: "We're getting closer to our game and putting together a full game. We are still showing glimpses of not playing our game, but we were happy to walk away with a win."
Lindy Ruff: "He's shooting the eyes out of a rattlesnake right now. He's got one heck of a shot. When he shoots the puck he's got one of the best shots I've ever seen. I thought Kari was good. For the most part, Kari was there when we needed him and we needed a few big saves."
John Klingberg: "Yeah that was a lucky goal there. I was going to dump the puck first, but I kind of wanted to surprise the goalie there so yeah it was lucky."
No comments:
Post a Comment