Final
Dallas 4 – Carolina 1
1st Period:
3:18 – Tyler Seguin (25)
Assists: Valeri Nichushkin (16), Jamie Benn (30)
6:13 – Brenden Dillon (6) (Shorthanded)
Assist: Jamie Benn (31)
- Top line got off to a great start quickly. They were able to score in the first five minutes of the game with some great work from Val and Seguin. Nichushkin did some good backchecking work to steal the puck from Nathan Gerbe and worked it down the ice with the rest of the first line. He got the puck and power-moved toward the net before making a sweet pass through the crease to Seguin.
- Brenden Dillon got his sixth goal of the season while Dallas was shorthanded. Kari Lehtonen made some great saves, and the Stars were able to take advantage of a broken stick from Sekera. Jamie Benn worked it into the offensive zone before losing the puck. Dillon picked it up, made a couple of sweet dekes and fired a laser for Dallas’ second goal.
- The Stars had two power plays in this period but weren’t able to score on either chance. Alex Chiasson had some nice opportunities on the second power play but just couldn’t get it by Khudobin.
- The top line was particularly troublesome for the Canes in this period. Their speed was casing all kinds of havoc.
- Dallas outshot Carolina 11-10 in this period.
2nd Period:
18:35 – Jamie Benn (23) (Shorthanded)
Unassisted
- Jamie Benn had an incredible shorthanded goal with a minute left in the period. He went the length of the ice and blew by three defenders on his way to embarrassing Khudobin and the Canes’ defense.
- Not too much happened in this period. Jamie Benn had another great opportunity just as he exited the penalty box and was in on a breakaway but he was unable to score.
- Dallas outshot the Canes 11-7 in this period.
- Here's the Benn goal, courtesy of @JenkinsSports.
3rd Period:
2:42 – Eric Staal (16)
Assists: Jiri Tlusty (9), Andrej Sekera (25)
Cody Eakin (13) (Empty Net)
Assists: Shawn Horcoff (10), Alex Goligoski (23)
- Carolina finally capitalized on a power play chance with a goal from their captain, Eric Staal. Staal had a tough angle shot from Lehtonen’s left that somehow slipped through the five-hole.
- Right after that goal, Antoine Roussel barreled over Khudobin with a two-handed check to the face while he was attempting to crash the net. Roussel was immediately jumped by Ron Hainsey and ended up with a bloody face after being on the wrong end of a fistfight. The Canes would have ended up with a three-minute power play but they ended up taking a high-sticking penalty a minute later to negate that.
- The rest of the period was full of penalties from both sides as things started to deteriorate. The Canes took multiple penalties in the final seven minutes of the game and were pretty much perpetually shorthanded.
- Cody Eakin finished it off with an empty-net goal with a minute left.
Other Observations/Notes:
- Jamie Benn was incredible on the penalty kill tonight. He set up the first shorthanded goal and scored the second all on his own. He had been working the PK on Team Canada and brought back some of that mojo to the Stars.
- The only real negative tonight was the power play for Dallas as they went 0-for-7 on the man advantage. They had been great before the break though, so they just might need a little bit time to get that back going.
Stats:
|
|
Dallas |
Carolina |
|
Shots |
34 |
30 |
|
Power Play |
0 of 7 |
0 of 5 |
|
PIM |
30 |
33 |
|
Hits |
21 |
20 |
|
Faceoffs Won |
28 |
27 |
