NHL - Stars - Western Canada Round Up - November 10-13, 2016

Stars @ Calgary Flames 4-2 - Thursday, November 10, 2016


Jamie Benn scored twice and Kari Lehtonen made 29 saves to help the Dallas Stars to a 4-2 win against the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome. 
Lauri Korpikoski and Antoine Roussel also scored for the Stars (5-6-3), who ended a three-game losing streak. Johnny Gaudreau scored twice and Brian Elliott made 18 saves for the Flames (5-9-1), who have lost three straight and five of six. Benn ended a nine-game goal-scoring drought in the first period, and then completed a three-way passing play started by Roussel and Tyler Seguin to score his second of the game and put Dallas up 3-2 at 7:20 of the third period.
Roussel scored into an empty net with 53.6 seconds remaining. Korpikoski put Dallas up 1-0 after taking a pass from Radek Faksa and shooting by Elliott's glove at 12:31 of the first period. Korpikoski attended training camp with the Flames on a professional tryout prior to signing a one-year contract with the Stars on Oct. 10. Benn made it 2-0 at 15:35 with his first goal in 10 games.

Gaudreau scored twice in 1:58 in the second period to tie the game. Lehtonen got a piece of Brett Kulak's shot from the point, but Gaudreau tapped the rebound over the goal line from inside the crease at 1:33 for his first goal in seven games. Gaudreau scored again on his next shift, deflecting Kulak's shot by Lehtonen at 3:31.
* Benn trailed the rush and took a pass from Stars defenseman John Klingberg before skating into the slot to lift a backhand by Elliott for his third goal of the season.

* Elliott made back-to-back saves on Klingberg's initial shot and Benn's rebound attempt a second apart in the opening minute of the third period to keep Calgary tied 2-2.

* With the Stars under pressure, defenseman Johnny Oduya blocked a shot by Flames forward Freddie Hamilton after he circled out of the corner with the puck with 6:12 remaining in the second period. 

* Benn took a pass in the slot from the corner by Seguin and beat Elliott to give the Stars a 3-2 lead.
"We found a way to take advantage on the power play. We moved the puck around pretty good there. I think almost all five guys touched it. [Roussel] made a good play and [Seguin] made a great pass." Benn said.
* Stars forward Patrick Sharp, who missed his 10th game because of a concussion, resumed skating with teammates Thursday but has no set timetable on his return. … Flames rookie forward Matthew Tkachuk, the No. 6 pick in the 2016 NHL Draft, missed the game because of a cut on his wrist sustained in practice Wednesday. … Calgary defenseman Dennis Wideman was a healthy scratch for the fourth game in a row and the seventh time this season.

"We competed hard. We defended first. When we defend first we're going to get opportunities. We have a lot of speed and skill on this team. It was nice to see tonight and a nice rebound."
"I saw a little bit [of weight] lifted off him. He was really buzzing out there tonight." Tyler Seguin


"It's good confidence for this group. It wasn't easy. We grinded one out here tonight. We've got to learn as a group here that it's not easy to win in this league. Every night you have to bring it. With the young group we have here, it was nice to get this win." Benn said.
"I think we all knew that eventually [Benn] would come out of it. But I thought tonight, obviously, it was the best game he's played in a while." Lindy Ruff said.

Stars @ Edmonton Oilers 3-2 - Friday, November 11, 2016


Kari Lehtonen made 40 saves to help the Dallas Stars to a 3-2 win against the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place. Patrick Eaves had a goal and an assist for Dallas (6-6-3), and Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn each had two assists. Seguin set up Antoine Roussel's game-winning goal at 15:00 of the second period, and the Stars held on from there. The Stars have won two games in a row for the first time this season. Patrick Maroon and Tyler Pitlick scored for the Oilers (9-5-1), and Cam Talbot made 27 saves.
The teams combined for four goals in the first period. Former Edmonton forward Lauri Korpikoski gave Dallas a 1-0 lead when he scored 28 seconds in on the game's first shot on goal. Maroon tied it 1-1 at 3:37 when he scored on a rebound from in front of the net. Eaves put the Stars up 2-1 on the power play at 4:51, tipping a point shot from Seguin between Talbot's pads. Pitlick tied it 2-2 with 28.4 seconds left in the first period on an excellent individual effort.
The Oilers had several quality chances to tie the game in the third period but couldn't beat Lehtonen. He made a tough save on Milan Lucic with 6:45 left, and then stopped McDavid with 1:26 remaining on a shot from the slot.

* Pitlick intercepted a clearing attempt along the boards, took the puck to the net, and lifted a backhand shot over Lehtonen to tie the game late in the first period.

* At 16:01 of the second period, Lehtonen made an outstanding glove save on Anton Slepyshev's one-timer from the bottom of the left faceoff circle off Mark Letestu's pass from behind the net to keep Dallas up 3-2.

* Oilers center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins caught Seguin from behind to break up a scoring opportunity at 8:03 of the second period after the Stars center took a pass in the slot and had an open lane to the net.

* Seguin set up Roussel's game-winner with a pass between Maroon and Oilers defenseman Oscar Klefbom. Roussel, who got behind Jordan Eberle and was streaking to the net, put a backhand up over Talbot.

* Maroon scored his fourth goal in his fifth game playing on the Oilers' top line with McDavid and Eberle. … Nugent-Hopkins had a game-high seven shots. … Seguin extended his point streak to four games. He has two goals and seven assists in his past five games.

"The way we've been defending the last two games, that can get you pretty far in this league and win hockey games. It starts in our end, and good things have been happening. We want to keep it going." Tyler Seguin.

"I thought we played our best defensive game. We knew how dangerous [Connor] McDavid was going to be and we tried to pay special attention to him and make sure we limited his inside opportunities. We gave him some outside time, but we didn't give him much inside time. We just knew if we gave him some space he could create some havoc, and I though our guys probably played the best defensive game of the year for us." Dallas coach Lindy Ruff said.

"I haven't played back-to-backs in a long time, so that was a nice challenge. And it was fun to get lots of action too; it kept me in the game easily the whole time. I was excited, especially getting to see this building and getting to play here the first time. That's always lots of fun against a team that is so skilled and so fast; it's a big challenge for a goalie always." Kari Lehtonen.

Stars @ Vancouver Canucks 4-5 OT - Sunday, November 13, 2016

The Vancouver Canucks had plenty of opportunities to pack it in against the Dallas Stars after coming off a disappointing six-game road trip. Instead they rallied twice in the third period for their second win in the past 12 games.
Rookie defenseman Troy Stecher scored his first NHL goal with 1:40 left in the third period to tie it, Markus Granlund scored 1:27 into overtime and the Canucks ended a 10-game losing streak against the Stars with a 5-4 win at Rogers Arena. Granlund scored the winning goal after Brandon Sutter won an offensive zone faceoff. Granlund pounced on the loose puck and beat Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen over the glove with a wrist shot. Loui Eriksson and Sutter scored for the Canucks 2:40 apart early in the third period to tie it 3-3, but Antoine Roussel gave the Stars a 4-3 lead after a lucky bounce with 8:11 left in the third. Burrows appeared to tie it again 1:03 later but Dallas challenged for goalie interference and the call was overturned because Burrows pushed Lehtonen's pad into the net with the puck. Stecher tied it with goalie Ryan Miller pulled for an extra attacker. He skated around Jamie Benn at the point and beat Lehtonen with a slap shot from the top of the right faceoff circle. Bo Horvat also scored and Miller made 17 saves for the Canucks (6-9-1).

* Patrick Eaves scored twice, Tyler Seguin had three assists and Lehtonen made 25 saves for the injury-riddled Stars (6-6-4), who failed in their attempt to win three straight games for the first time this season.

* Daniel Sedin took a pass from Henrik Sedin on a power play rush and quickly passed it over to Sutter cutting into the slot for a quick wrist shot early in the third period. It was the first goal in 11 games for the top power-play unit.

"We haven't really had the success we want on the power play but we talked about finding ways to score and one of the ways was off the rush and Danny and Hank made a great play," Sutter said.

* Miller robbed Roussel twice early the third period, gloving a high shot alone in tight and kicking out another from the slot. Eriksson started the comeback one minute after the pad save.

* Dallas defenseman Jordie Benn, who had just missed a wide open net at the end of a power play, saved a goal by swiping away a wraparound attempt by Burrows.

* Knocked to the ice in front of the net, Seguin still managed to sweep the loose puck to Dan Hamhuis at the point and his shot bounced to Eaves for the opening goal. Seguin had two more assists and has two goals and six assists during a five-game point streak.
* Stars forward Patrick Sharp missed his 12th game but resumed skating this week and could return when Dallas opens a four-game homestand Tuesday. … The Canucks recalled forward Jake Virtanen from Utica of the American Hockey League on Sunday but he didn't play.

"We were right there. We made a little mistake on the empty-net goal on coverage going out to the point. If we played that better, that puck definitely doesn't go in."
"I could just sense, even late in the second, that the energy of our team was dropping. We've had a tough grind here in the last six days. I just thought their skating was a little better than ours going down the stretch." Lindy Ruff said.