Final
Dallas 3 – Calgary 5
Ugly. That’s really all you can say about this game. It was flat out ugly. Numerous stupid penalties, egregious turnovers and all-around foolish play doomed the Stars in their 5-3 loss to the Calgary Flames. It really was a game that the Stars should have handily won but they just couldn’t get out of their own way. The game last night just proved to be a huge waste. The Stars went into the game yesterday with an opportunity to effectively end the Flames season. Instead, Calgary now finds themselves back into the playoff hunt and the Stars are in the seventh spot in the West with their most difficult portion of the schedule still coming up.
The game got off to a great start for the Stars as Jamie Benn scored just 26 seconds into the game with a wrister from near the blue line. It looked like an easy catch for Miikka Kiprusoff but he had a failure of hand/eye coordination and watched as the puck just flew over his glovehand and into the net. The start wouldn’t last too long though as the Flames would capitalize on the Stars first mistake of the game. Trevor Daley took a high-sticking penalty six minutes into the period and Olli Jokinen would end up with a power play goal. That would be the flow of the game. Dallas would score a goal, take a penalty and then the Flames would either score a power play goal or get enough momentum to tie it up later.
Jamie Benn continued his dominant play from the first period when he scored in the second just 44 seconds in. Things would swing back and forth until Mike Ribeiro made one of the worst mistakes you’ll ever see. The Stars were in the defensive zone and Ribeiro had the puck along the boards. Jarome Iginla was skating towards him and Ribs just lost his mind. He panicked and fired the puck through the slot, where Blake Comeau was literally waiting all by himself. If this had been in the offensive zone, it would have been a great pass but here, it was just a horrible mistake. Comeau one-timed the puck by Lehtonen and tied the game at 2-2. That goal would be the turning point of the game.
Mike Cammalleri scored a goal just one minute later and the Stars suddenly found themselves on the wrong side of the score board. Ribeiro was the culpirt in this one as well as he lost the face-off that led to the goal.
He would make some ammends by scoring the tying goal three minutes later but that tie didn’t last. Immediately after that goal, Stephane Robidas would take a tripping penalty and the Flames would score a power play goal. Two minutes before the end of the period, that would happen again when Steve Ott took a tripping penalty. A 2-1 lead at the beginning of the second period would be 5-3 in the Flames favor by the time it ended.
Dallas scored a power play goal (by Philip Larsen) in the third to make things interesting, but they would never fully make the comeback.
The Stars just continue to get killed by their own mistakes. They say all the right things after the game (“We took stupid penalties”, “We’re upset at ourselves”, etc…) but none of that really matters unless they make it count on ice. Dallas returns to the ice on Wednesday to take on the Edmonton Oilers.
more after the jump
Game Notes:
- Dallas took some injury hits in this game. Eric Nystrom would last only two shifts in this game as he suffered a cut (much like Jamie Benn did) in the first period. He crashed into Kiprusoff and in the ensuing fall, his leg got caught in Kipper’s skates. He went off the ice and never returned to the game.
- Tomas Vincour and Vernon Fiddler got dinged up in the third period by blocking shots. Vincour took one in his ribcage and seconds later, Fiddler would take a shot into the back of his leg. Both guys were hunched over and hobbling around the ice trying to help but they just couldn’t get over the pain. Calgary had what was effectively a five-on-three and peppered Lehtonen with shots. The two hobbled players were forced to stay on the ice for a full minute trying to clear the puck. Trevor Daley was stuck in his own zone for two minutes and was gassed by the time it was all over. Vincour and Fiddler showed an incredible amount of heart and want though in that moment. They were literally giving everything they had.
- Jamie Benn started this game out on fire. He had a goal and four shots on net in his first three shifts of the game. He would really be the only guy showing up on offense.
- Calgary would get three power play goals in this game. In the past 14 games, the Stars had given up a total of three power play goals. Last night was just a collapse of epic proportions.
- This game would the 14th time this season that the Stars would give up at least five goals.
Game Stats and Scoring Summary:
| Dallas | Calgary | |
| Score | 3 | 5 |
| Shots | 39 | 35 |
| Penalty Minutes | 16 | 12 |
| Power Plays | 1 of 4 | 3 of 6 |
| Blocked Shots | 18 | 10 |
| Hits | 17 | 12 |
| Faceoff Wins | 30 | 34 |
1st Period:
- 0:26 – Jamie Benn (25)
Assist: Steve Ott (27)
- 6:53 – Olli Jokinen (22) (Power Play)
Assists: Lee Stempniak (13), Curtis Glencross (21)
2nd Period:
- 0:44 – Jamie Benn (26)
Assists: Adam Burish (13), Adam Pardy (3)
- 9:16 – Blake Comeau (5)
Unassisted
- 10:01 – Mike Cammalleri (17)
Assists: Jarome Iginla (32), Anton Babchuk (8)
- 14:29 – Mike Ribeiro (17)
Assists: Michael Ryder (26), Alex Goligoski (20)
- 16:58 – Mark Giordano (9) (Power Play)
Assists: Jarome Iginla (33), Mike Cammalleri (19)
- 19:32 – Alex Tanguay (13) (Power Play)
Assists: Mike Cammalleri (20), Mark Giordano (17)
3rd Period:
- 5:24 – Philip Larsen (2) (Power Play)
Assists: Sheldon Souray (15), Steve Ott (28)
