The only aspect of the Winnipeg Jets' 2-1 victory against the Dallas Stars that coach Paul Maurice wanted to talk about was the 46-save performance of his goaltender, Ondrej Pavelec. Michael Frolik scored his ninth goal of the season early in the first period to put the Jets in front, and Pavelec made it stand up until Evander Kane made it 2-0 with a shorthanded goal midway through the third period. Pavelec stopped the first 44 shots he faced before Trevor Daley's slap shot from the left circle with 1:16 remaining in regulation ended his shutout bid. Dallas (19-17-7) pressed until the final horn but was unable to get another puck past Pavelec. Winnipeg won despite being outshot 46-22 by Dallas. The Stars finished 0-for-7 on the power play and are 1-for-24 in their past six games. The Jets (23-14-8) took an early lead when Frolik tapped in a pass from Mathieu Perreault 3:53 into the first period. Perreault passed the puck from the right of his own net and hit Frolik in stride. He slipped his stick around the right skate of Stars rookie defenseman John Klingberg, giving him enough space to send a quick wrist shot into the left side of the net. Dallas had a great early chance to tie it 2:18 into the second period when Shawn Horcoff had a breakaway, but Pavelec stopped his wrist shot from the slot. Pavelec stopped all 22 shots he faced in the second period, including saves on Tyler Seguin, Jason Spezza and Jamie Benn within a seven-second span. Pavelec stopped Seguin's slap shot from the left point at 7:42, then denied Spezza's attempt to knock in the rebound and stretched to get his glove on Benn's attempt to knock in the second rebound at the right post. Cody Eakin had the Stars' second breakaway of the second period at 11:38, with the teams skating 4-on-4, but his wrist shot from the slot deflected off Pavelec's left shoulder and went over the crossbar.
The Stars outshot the Jets 22-6 in the second but still trailed 1-0 at the second intermission. Dallas got a four-minute power play at 5:24 of the third period when Blake Wheeler was called for a high stick that drew blood to the face of Dallas forward Erik Cole. But instead of allowing the tying goal, Winnipeg went ahead 2-0 at 7:34 when Kane's soft wrist shot deflected off the left skate of Daley and past Anders Lindback for his ninth goal of the season. Kane's goal came just over a minute after what might have been Pavelec's best save of the game, a windmill glove save at the right post on Seguin's wrist shot from the slot. Lindback finished with 20 saves. Dallas fell to 2-9-5 in the Central Division and trails the Jets by nine points, though the Stars have two games in hand.
Stars Quotes
Trevor Daley: "I thought we were the better team."Lindy Ruff: "The power play had point-blank opportunities. Your best players have to put it in the back of the net, and they didn't go. Some hit bodies; they blocked quite a few shots. We just missed too many good opportunities. It was utter domination but we didn't finish. We had great opportunities. I don't think you can play any better and have that many missed opportunities. You have to give Pavelec a lot of credit but, at the same time, our near-misses should have been in the back of the net."
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