Jason Spezza had a goal and an assist, and Antti Niemi made 23 saves to help the Stars end a four-game losing streak with a 3-2 win against the Oilers at American Airlines Center. Spezza scored his 16th of the season on a backhand 1:23 into the first period and assisted on Jyrki Jokipakka's game-winning goal late in the second. Jamie Benn scored for Dallas, who lost all three games on its California road trip (0-2-1).
Teddy Purcell and Nail Yakupov scored for Edmonton, which went 1-2-0 on its three-game road trip. Yakupov scored his fourth goal with 3:03 remaining to make it 3-2. He beat Niemi to the short side on a wrist shot from the slot that deflected in off the Dallas goalie's right pad. Edmonton goalie Cam Talbot made 32 saves.
Trailing 1-0 after the first period, Eberle nearly tied it at 6:17 of the second, but his rising one-timer from the left circle instead hit the crossbar, one of three times Edmonton hit the post. Jokipakka had an apparent goal at 9:31 of the second period waved off after Oilers coach Todd McLellan challenged it. Video review determined Stars forward Ales Hemsky was offside before Jokipakka beat Talbot. Benn scored an unassisted goal at 13:16 of the second to make it 2-0.
He beat Talbot to the far post with a wrist shot from the slot for his 27th goal.
Purcell cut the Dallas lead to 2-1 with his 11th goal at 17:04 of the second with Edmonton on the power play. Twenty seconds earlier, he hit the crossbar with a wrist shot from the left circle. Jokipakka restored the Stars' two-goal lead 15 seconds after Purcell scored. His wrist shot from the high slot deflected in off Benoit Pouliot's stick for his second goal of the season.
Tyler Seguin hit the crossbar on a one-timer from the left circle early in the third period, and Benn hit the right post 35 seconds later.
Stars Quotes
Jason Spezza: "It's always tough to get a win when you're losing a few games in a row, so it was a big win for us. It's a tough game coming back from the West Coast, and I thought it helped us to play with the lead most of the night."Lindy Ruff: "[Jokipakka] was very good. He was physical. Obviously, we would have loved to see the goal count. We've had a couple of those now when we've gone offside. That's a mental error. It was a play that we could have stayed onside, I felt, but Jokipakka was really good."
"That last power play, [Benn and Seguin had] two or three real good looks to get on the board. I thought they played the game the right way, stayed above it when they had no good looks. For the most part offensively, I thought they did a pretty good job."
Jamie Benn: "We got two points, and that's the main thing."
No comments:
Post a Comment