Stars Beat Predators

By Stephen Hunt, The Sports Xchange

DALLAS — Recently, Dallas Stars coach Lindy Ruff lamented his big names not pulling their offensive weight. Well, on Thursday against the Nashville Predators at American Airlines Center, his superstars delivered, as Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin and Jason Spezza combined for eight points in a 5-2 win.
Benn and Spezza each had a goal and two assists, Seguin and Antoine Roussel a goal and an assist, and Kari Lehtonen stopped 34 of 36 shots for Dallas (11-11-6), who also got a goal from Brett Ritchie.
For the first time this season, Ruff played Benn, Seguin and Spezza together on his top line, and the results were impressive.
“That was a good night for them,” Ruff said. “Got us started early and had a good night 5-on-5.”
The Stars, who led the NHL last season with 267 goals, scored four or more goals for just the sixth time this season. Dallas is now 27-8-1 at home all-time against Nashville.
Viktor Arvidsson and Calle Jarnkrok scored for the Predators (12-10-4).
“Well, they showed up to play and we were a no-show,” Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said.
Dallas took a 2-0 lead thanks to goals 23 seconds apart midway through the opening period. Benn beat Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne, who stopped 14 of 18 shots, top shelf over his blocker on a wrist shot from the edge of the left circle 9:55 into the game.
It was Benn’s eighth of the season and 200th of his career.
“It felt like any other goal,” Benn said. “It’s not really a big deal to me. It’s much better to get two points and get a win.”
Ritchie followed with his seventh of the season at 10:18 of the first. Ritchie scored after receiving a Roussel pass from the left side. It appeared that Rinne had at least initially stopped Ritchie’s attempt. However, the puck trickled through and crossed the line.
Nashville pulled one back when Arvidsson scored a shorthanded goal 3:57 before the first intermission. Dallas was 1:15 into a power play after Predators captain Mike Fisher was called for hooking at 14:48.
After John Klingberg broke his stick on an attempted slap shot, Austin Watson started the rush by sending the puck to Arvidsson, who dashed up the right side of the ice. Initially, it appeared Lehtonen had denied Arvidsson’s wrist shot from the right circle with his glove, but the puck scooted over the line to make it 2-1.
Dallas has now allowed five shorthanded goals so far this season, tying it with Chicago for second most in the NHL.
Spezza gave the Stars a 3-1 lead 3:27 into the second period with his first goal since Nov. 3 against St. Louis. After receiving the puck from Benn inside the left circle, Spezza displayed some deft stickhandling, drawing Rinne out of the crease. Spezza then finished the sequence by scoring on a wrist shot that deflected in off Ryan Johansen.
“It’s good to see all those guys get a goal. It’s good to see Jamie (Benn) get one, and it was good to see (Spezza) get one,” Ruff said. “I thought all four lines played well.”
Roussel made it 4-1 with his fifth goal of the season 5:47 into the second period when he tapped in a Lauri Korpikoski pass at the far post. Fifteen seconds before scoring, Roussel left the penalty box after serving a cross checking penalty.
Roussel’s goal chased Rinne from the game. He was replaced by Marek Mazanec, who stopped 18 of 19 shots in relief.
“When (Roussel) is doing his job, he’s the best at it,” Seguin said. “He’s a bit of an agitator out there, but he can score goals, he has a lot of skill, and he’s one of the hard workers on the ice and in practice and it shows.”
Dallas had a Radek Faksa goal off a rebound 1:00 before the second intermission nullified after a review showed Ritchie had washed Mazanec out on the play. However, the Stars made it 5-1 when Seguin scored his 10th of the season 44 seconds later with Dallas on the power play.
“Yeah it was a pretty complete game from us,” Spezza said. “We’ve played well when we’ve had the lead, and (tonight) we got the lead.”
Jarnkrok scored his fifth of the season by beating Lehtonen top shelf and to his short side on a wrist shot from the right circle with 4:41 remaining.
“Well, I think in the third (period), we were more on the puck,” Predators center Frederick Gaudreau said. “That’s a positive thing for sure, but at the end of the day, it’s a loss and that’s never fun.”