Stars win in thrilling fashion against the Flames

Final

Dallas 3 – Calgary 2 (OT)

Mike Ribeiro stepped up in the biggest way with Jamie Benn injured and out for the night. Ribs had one of the best goals of the season as he went behind the back with the puck, smoothly skated to the blue line, between the circles and fired a scorcher by Miikka Kiprusoff (though Razor’s call of the play was the highlight of the night). Dallas had given up the game tying goal not much earlier and went into the OT without momentum.

Ribeiro sent all the folks home happy with his goal and Dallas got an enormously important two points on the night.

Dallas played one of their best games of the season. They were energetic, played hard throughout the night and fought for every free puck. This was a game that the Stars absolutely had to win and they got it. Dallas started well and controlled most of the first period. They looked to be heading into the locker room with a 1-0 lead when Jarome Iginla did Jarome Iginla stuff. He found a loose puck, made a nifty pass over to Alex Tanguay and raced towards the net. He beat Alex Goligoski to the front of the crease and was there to tap in an easy goal.

Things looked bleak when Jamie Benn left midway through the 2nd period when he got cut in the back of the legs by a skate. He hobbled off the ice and the entire Stars community held its collective breath for the next half hour until it was learned that it wasn’t too serious. Even though the game was tied when he went out, it felt like Dallas had just been gutpunched for three goals. 

A Steve Ott power-play goal put the Stars up 2-1 in the 2nd and Lehtonen was doing amazing work again between the pipes. He had another amazing point blank glove save that momentarily preserved the Stars lead. Dallas, however, returned to their not so smart selves by taking a couple of terrible penalties halfway through the third period. They killed off a Trevor Daley delay of game before Ott immediately put the Flames back on the PP with a dumb charging penalty.

Dallas was actually able to kill that penalty off but were too tired to get the puck and clear it. The Flames worked their way around the exhausted defense and Mike Cammalleri scored the tying goal. It was a white-knuckled ride from then on until the Ribeiro beauty.

Dallas got rare goals from both Adam Burish and Ott (on a rare PP as well) in what can only be described as welcome and much needed offense from the other guys. With Benn injured and out for the Phoenix game for sure (he might be back for Sunday’s game), Dallas will be searching for offense.

The Stars kept themselves on the cusp of the playoff picture with this win and faces what could be a season deciding back-to-back against the Phoenix Coyotes and Nashville Predators this weekend.

more after the jump

 

Game Notes:

  • Adam Pardy made his return to the lineup because Nicklas Grossman had just been traded to the Philadelphia Flyers earlier in the day. Pardy actually played well in his 15:58 of ice time and had no egregious errors.
  • Mark Fistric had a great game yesterday. He was all over the ice dishing out eight crushing hits and blocking a couple of shots. He’ll see plenty of ice time now that Grossman is gone. His 20:22 minutes of ice time was his third most of the season.
  • The referees had a tough time last night calling penalties against the Flames. At one point in the first period, Cammalleri had Fistric in a down on the ice in a headlock for ten seconds and yet there was no penalty. The refs saw what was going on, broke it up and then just let play continue. Dallas could have, and probably should have, had at least five power-plays on the night but they only ended up with one.
  • Dallas is having a lot of trouble just getting shots on the net lately. They are firing a bunch of pucks wide of the net, costing them rebound and scoring chances.

Game Stats and Scoring Summary:


   Dallas    Calgary
Score 3 2
Shots 32 27
Penalty Minutes 10 6
Power Plays 1 of 1 0 of 3
Blocked Shots 13 21
Hits 29 23
Faceoff Wins 34 28

1st Period:

  • 9:42 – Adam Burish (6)
    Assists: Jake Dowell, Tom Wandell
  • 19:07 – Jarome Iginla (23)
    Assists: Alex Tanguay, Olli Jokinen

2nd Period:

  • 17:43 – Steve Ott (9) (Power Play)
    Assist: Mike Ribeiro

3rd Period:

  • 14:57 – Mike Cammalleri (13)
    Assist: Jay Bouwmeester

Overtime:

  • 2:01 – Mike Ribeiro (12)
    Assists: Michael Ryder, Trevor Daley
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