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Wrap: Stars stay undefeated, beat Sharks 4-3 (3-1) via shootout |
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It was not easy but the Dallas Stars overcame of 1-0 and 2-1 in the second period -- the first time Dallas trailed in a game to date -- and went on to defeat the San Jose Sharks via shootout, 3-2 (3-1) via shootout at American Airlines Center on Tuesday evening.
In so doing, the Stars ran their record to 4-0-0 to stay unbeaten on the season and sweep a three-game homestand. The Sharks dropped to 0-1-2.
After a scoreless first period in which the Stars came on over the latter portions, San Jose grabbed the first goal. Tyler Toffoli (2nd goal of the season) turned a Jason Robertson turnover into a counterattacking goal at the other end at 6:24. The goal was unassisted.
The Stars equalized the game at 12:03 of the second period as a Matt Duchene (1st) re-directed a Mason Marchment area shot-pass into the net. Rookie Logan Stankoven made a nifty move on the initial entry, and earned the secondary assist on the sequence. Stankoven has racked up five helpers in the season's first four games.
San Jose's Ty Dellandrea (1st) restored a one-goal lead for San Jose at 15:12 of the middle frame. Exactly two minutes later, the Stars' top line replied with a goal by Roope Hintz (2nd) to re-tie the score at 2-2 on a tic-tac-toe sequence. The Sharks cleared the puck from their defensive zone but Dallas quickly reloaded. After entry, passes from Wyatt Johnston to Robertson and Robertson to Hintz in the deep slot produced a one-timer tally past netminder Mackenzie Blackwood.
The third period was fairly even in flow (12 Dallas shots, 11 for San Jose) and overtime was also scoreless as the game was still deadlocked at 2-2 through 65 minutes.
In the shootout, the Stars scored on all three of their attempts: Robertson, Duchene and Johnston. At the other end, Jake Oettinger denied Will Smith before veteran Mikael Granlund forced a third round. Johnston's tally in the top of the third round gave the Stars the bonus point from the game.
Oettinger stopped 23 of 25 shots in regulation and overtime before going 1-for-2 in the shootout. The busier of the two goalies, Blackwood, made 36 saves on 38 shots in regulation and OT but came up empty (0-for-3) in trying to stop any of the Dallas attackers in the shootout.
Already playing without injured defenseman Matt Dumba, the Stars were also missing veteran forward Tyler Seguin. However, rookie Mavrik Bourque joined the Dallas lineup.
The Stars travel east for an inter-conference road game against the Washington Capitals on Thursday. On Saturday, the Stars play a home matinee (3 p.m. CDT) with the defending Western Conference champion Edmonton Oilers. On Tuesday, Edmonton overcame a terrible start and a slew of needless penalties to erase 2-0 and 3-2 deficits in an eventual 4-3 home overtime win against the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Stars went 0-for-4 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.
Dallas Stars Blogger • 
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