Jamie Benn, Jason Spezza and Patrick Eaves combined for seven points, and Kari Lehtonen made 22 saves to help the Dallas Stars to a 4-0 win against the Minnesota Wild at American Airlines Center on Thursday in Game 1 of their Western Conference First Round series. It was the second Stanley Cup Playoff shutout of Lehtonen’s career. Lehtonen was playing in his ninth career NHL playoff game. Game 2 of the best-of-7 series will be in Dallas on Saturday.
Benn had a goal and two assists, and Spezza and Eaves each had a goal and an assist. Rookie forward Radek Faksa opened the scoring 3:53 into the second period on a wrist shot from the slot that beat goalie Devan Dubnyk top shelf over his glove. Ales Hemsky set up Faksa at the top of the hash marks after stealing the puck from Jarret Stoll in the neutral zone.
Faksa was one of four Stars making his NHL playoff debut; forward Mattias Janmark and defensemen John Klingberg and Stephen Johns were the others.
Dallas scored twice in the second period and twice in the third after outshooting Minnesota 14-2 in a scoreless first period. The Stars were 1-for-6 on the power play and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill. The Wild were without injured forwards Zach Parise (upper body), Thomas Vanek (upper body) and Erik Haula (lower body). Parise and Vanek combined for 94 points.
The Stars’ best chance of the first period came with 6:06 remaining when Patrick Sharp one-timed a slap shot off the crossbar from the left circle.
Dubnyk poke-checked the puck from Hemsky on a breakaway at 10:52 of the second when he left the paint. Hemsky was playing in his first postseason game since 2006 with the Edmonton Oilers.
Spezza gave Dallas a 2-0 lead with his 18th career playoff goal at 12:17 of the second. He first faked a slap shot from the right circle, and Dubnyk took the bait, leaving the short side open a bit. Spezza beat Dubnyk top shelf just inside the near post on a wrist shot from the edge of the right circle. It was Spezza’s first playoff goal since April 23, 2012, against the New York Rangers when he was with the Ottawa Senators. Dubnyk turned away a backhand on a breakaway by Colton Sceviour with 10 seconds remaining in the second period to keep it a two-goal game.
Eaves scored off a rebound with 5:44 remaining in the third after Dubnyk made a pad save on Spezza’s slap shot from near the blue line with Dallas on the power play. Torchetti challenged the goal, arguing that Eaves interfered with Dubnyk, but the goal was upheld following a video review. Benn scored an unassisted goal into an empty net with 4:00 remaining. Dubnyk expects a better performance in Game 2 from the Wild, who were 1-1-3 against the Stars in the regular season.
Stars Quotes
Kari Lehtonen: “[The shutout] is cool, but the most important thing is to get that first win, and we just go from here, go for Game No. 2.”Lindy Ruff: “I didn’t really know what to expect. We obviously showed some good patience. Thought we had a little bit of the jitters in the first. I thought we defended well, played well away from the puck. I thought we had chances to make some more plays, and some of that execution was [lacking]. Maybe four days off hurt us a little bit.”
Jason Spezza: "I've scored a few there [to the short side]. I just kind of take what's open. I had good looks. [Dubnyk is] a big goalie. He made some good saves tonight. It's an intense game. They were ready to play. They played us tough. They played a patient game. The fans were into it. Once we got the first goal, the rink really got rocking and I thought we used the momentum well.”
Wild Quotes
Jason Pominville: “Their special teams were better than ours. We didn’t find a way to generate much early, and they defended hard. We'll make adjustments and be better.”John Torchetti: “Three of the goals, we had the puck. That’s the bottom line. We got to make sure we manage the puck a lot better. Third goal was a big goal, it was still a 2-0 game and we were doing OK. [They scored off a] faceoff play, we got to do a better job. [Dubnyk] was pretty good, kept us in the game. Just can’t give them so many power-play chances.”
Devan Dubnyk: “Those are scenarios that allow you to make a read there. You can’t do it every time, but if you time it right, it’s a difficult play for the forward, and I was happy it worked. The most important thing we got to understand is we can play with these guys, we can beat these guys. There’s no reason to think otherwise. We’ve shown it and we’ve got the guys in here [to do it]. We’ll know what to expect on Saturday and be ready to go.”
Other Results
Philadelphia @ Washington 0-2 - Game 1Braden Holtby made 19 saves when the Washington Capitals shut out the Philadelphia Flyers 2-0 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference First Round at Verizon Center on Thursday. Although Holtby didn't see a lot of work after the first period, he faced eight shots in the final two. John Carlson scored a power-play goal at 16:21 of the second period. His slap shot from the point was deflected in by Flyers forward Chris VandeVelde in front of goalie Steve Mason.
It was Carlson's seventh NHL playoff goal. Beagle scored with 3:24 remaining in the game, a few seconds after Flyers defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere's interference penalty expired, to make it 2-0. Marcus Johansson stole the puck from Flyers forward Jakub Voracek, skated into the zone and passed to Beagle, who scored from the slot. The first period was scoreless after the Flyers failed on three power-play opportunities. Washington trailed in shots on goal 11-8 but led in hits 17-10. The trend of penalties and power plays continued in the third period, with the Flyers giving the Capitals three power plays. Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds was assessed two minutes for roughing and five minutes for fighting Capitals forward Tom Wilson at 13:09. Wilson got two minutes for boarding Simmonds and five for fighting.
NY Islanders @ Florida 5-4 - Game 1
The New York Islanders kept fighting back in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference First Round series against the Florida Panthers, and their captain led the way. John Tavares tied the game in the final minute of the second period and set up Kyle Okposo's goal early in the third to help the Islanders defeat the Panthers 5-4 at BB&T Center. Okposo broke a 3-3 tie at 2:33 when Tavares stole the puck from defenseman Brian Campbell and fed Okposo at the left circle before he beat goalie Roberto Luongo with a shot high to the blocker side. Tavares had a goal and two assists for the Islanders, who took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-7 series. Ryan Strome and Frans Nielsen each had a goal and an assist for the Islanders, and Brock Nelson scored. Thomas Greiss, in his first Stanley Cup Playoff start, made 42 saves. The 30-year-old has played 130 regular-season games in his NHL career. Reilly Smith had two goals and an assist for Florida, tying the Panthers record for goals in a playoff game. Jussi Jokinen had a goal and two assists, Teddy Purcell scored, and Luongo made 21 saves.
Florida outshot New York 46-26 in what matched its highest-scoring playoff game, tying a 6-3 victory against the Boston Bruins in the 1996 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals and an 8-1 loss against the Colorado Avalanche in the 1996 Stanley Cup Final. The Panthers took the lead three times in the first two periods, but the Islanders tied them each time. Panthers forward Jaromir Jagr, who came in with one goal in 33 playoff games since returning from the Kontinental Hockey League in 2011, had several good scoring chances in the first period, including a partial breakaway when Greiss stopped him. Jagr almost tied the game in the final minute, but Greiss stopped his backhand from close range. It was a difficult game all around for Jagr, who lost a tooth in the first period when he was checked into the boards by defenseman Ryan Pulock.
Tavares tied the score 3-3 with 21.8 seconds left in the second period after the Islanders dumped the puck in deep and the Panthers couldn't clear. The puck went to the side of the net, where Okposo grabbed it and sent a pass across the net for a one-time redirection. The goal came after Tavares left the ice in pain after being hit in the leg by a shot from teammate Nick Leddy. Strome made it 5-3 at 6:01 on a rebound after Alan Quine, who played his first two NHL games last weekend, got around defenseman Jakub Kindl and shot on net. Smith scored 55 seconds later with a wrist shot high to the blocker side to make it 5-4.
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