STARS BLANK BLUES, 3-0, EXTENDED CENTRAL DIVISION LEAD
The Dallas Stars earned three of four possible points from a post-Christmas home-and-home set with the St. Louis Blues. After settling for one point in a 3-2 loss via a nine-round shootout in St. Louis on Saturday, the Stars whitewashed the Blues by a 3-0 score at the American Airlines Center on Sunday.
Special teams was the difference in the rematch. Dallas went 2-for-3 on the power play, as a late first-period tally by Patrick Sharp and an early third period goal by captain Jamie Benn built a two-goal lead for the Stars. Dallas went 2-for-2 on the penalty kill. A long-distance empty net goal by Cody Eakin with 1:32 left in the game sealed a three-goal final margin of victory.
Winning goaltender Kari Lehtonen notched his first shutout of the 2015-16 season, turning back all 22 shots he faced including 10 in the third period. St. Louis' Brian Elliott was the busier of the two goalies, and gave a strong accounting for himself in turning back 35 of 37 shots. The Stars outshot the Blues 16-5 in the first period but Elliott limited the damage to one goal.
The Stars took a 1-0 lead on their second power play of the first period. Robert Bortuzzo was in the penalty box for butt-ending Jamie Benn after a delayed penalty whistle on Scottie Upshall; an ensuing roughing penalty on Tyler Seguin during the scrum made it a 5-on-4 power play for the Stars rather than a two-man advantage. On the power play, Sharp scored a rebound goal at the 18:03 mark. Alex Goligoski and Jamie Benn earned the assists on Sharp's 13th goal of the season.
The animosity carried over into the second period. Right after the drop of the opening center ice faceoff, Dallas agitator Antoine Roussel fought Blues' forward Troy Brouwer. Just four seconds after play resumed, Travis Moen dropped the gloves with Bortuzzo.
Play settled down after the two fights. The Stars held a 13-7 shot edge in the middle frame but could not extend the lead. Elliott kept his team within a goal as he made closely spaced tough stops on Ales Hemsky and Colton Sceviour in the latter portion of the period. Dallas took into the third period 1:28 of carryover power play from a Dmitrij Jaskin tripping minor drawn by Seguin.
At the 40-second mark of the third period, the Stars finally got some insurance. A shot by Sharp pinballed off St. Louis defenseman Jay Bouwmeester and went right directly to Jamie Benn, who potted his 23rd goal of the season.
The Stars killed off two penalties over the course of the third period, as Jason Demers was sent off midway through the stanza for tripping Jaskin and Seguin received a two minute kneeing minor against Colton Parayko with 4:52 left on the clock. Lehtonen made two of his 22 saves for the game as Dallas got through its two penalty kills.
With Elliott pulled for an extra attacker and 1:32 remaining in regulation, Eakin scored into an empty net from nearly the full 200-foot length of the rink for his ninth goal of the season. Eakin won a defensive zone faceoff to the left of Lehtonen and retrieved the puck in the corner. From 187 feet away from the goal line, Eakin banked the puck off the side boards and sent it the length of the ice directly into the vacant cage at the other end.
Lehtonen made two finals save in the last minute, stopping Parayko's 35-foot blast with 19 seconds left in the game and then covering the puck for a stoppage on a long-range shot by Upshall in the final six seconds. Seguin beat Scott Gomez on the last draw and time expired.
With the win, the Stars (27-7-3) opened a nine-point lead on second-place St. Louis (22-12-4) in the Central Division standings; a net one-point gain from the home-and-home set with two head-to-head games remaining on Feb. 16 in St. Louis and March 12 in Dallas.
The Stars are on on Monday before paying a visit to Ohio to play the Columbus Blue Jackets (13-22-3) on Tuesday evening. Game time is 6 p.m. CT. Coming off an emotional back-to-back set with their closest divisional rival, playing for the third time in four nights, having beaten Columbus by a deceptive 5-1 count in Dallas on Dec. 15 and riding a five-game point streak (4-0-1), the Stars need to be on guard against a potential letdown game against the club with the worst record in the NHL this season.
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