Stars Defeat Predators In Shootout
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DALLAS — The Dallas Stars know that if they are to end their five-year playoff drought, things will not come easy. Dallas’ 3-2 shootout win against the Nashville Predators on Tuesday night at American Airlines Center was a prime example.
Dallas (39-29-11), which holds a two-point lead on the Phoenix Coyotes for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference, pulled ahead twice only to see the Predators tie the game both times.
“Our energy was real good early, and the energy starting slipping away,” Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. “These guys are giving it everything they want. That’s the impressive part.”
Center Tyler Seguin scored the clincher in the shootout, firing a wrist shot over the glove of Nashville goaltender Pekka Rinne as the Stars’ fourth shooter.
Nashville defenseman Roman Josi had scored on the Predators’ third attempt with a shot that trickled through the five-hole of Dallas goalie Kari Lehtonen. However, the Stars forced the extra round when center Vernon Fiddler scored after falling down earlier on his attempt.
“That was something else,” Fiddler said of his shootout goal. “I obviously had a
little skate issue there before. They tried to fix it, our trainer did. He told me not to turn that way, but I didn’t listen to him. Maybe I should have listened to him, but I was just thankful that it caught my other edge.”
The Stars received goals from defenseman Alex Goligoski and left winger Jamie Benn in the victory. Lehtonen stopped 27 shots.
“Kari’s been huge for us the whole year,” Fiddler said of Lehtonen. “If we’re going to make our push here, he’s going to have to continue to be our best player.”
Nashville (35-32-12) got two goals from center Gabriel Bourque, but was eliminated from playoff contention.
“It’s frustrating,” Predators defenseman Shea Weber said of missing the playoffs for a second straight year. “I hate it. Everyone in here hates it. It’s obvious something’s got to change, something’s got to get better and we got to find a way to get into the postseason.”
The Stars scored first when Goligoski punished Rinne with a wrister to his short side 2:23 into the opening period. Goligoski’s shot, which sailed under Rinne’s glove, came from the right circle. It was his sixth of the season.
Nashville pulled the game level 1:22 into the second period when Bourque got the better of Lehtonen with a one-timer on the short side.
Benn put Dallas ahead again with his 34th of the season on a wrister that chewed up Rinne at 8:16 of the middle period. After receiving a pass from rookie right winger Valeri Nichushkin near center ice, Benn raced up the left side and finished the rush with a shot that deflected in off Rinne’s glove.
Nashville broke through for a second equalizer to make it 2-2 with 9:36 remaining in regulation when Bourque struck for a second time. Dallas defenseman Brenden Dillon committed a costly error that led directly to the goal, a flippant pass from the left corner that was intercepted behind the Stars’ net by Nashville center Paul Gaustad.
Gaustad then alertly flipped the puck to Bourque, who was rushing toward the Dallas net, and Bourque culminated the sequence with a goal over Lehtonen’s glove.
“I thought that was probably our most effective line tonight,” Predators coach Barry Trotz said of the line featuring Bourque and Gaustad. “Obviously, they got both of our goals but they were really quite good.”
One reason why Nashville was able to force overtime was because Dallas was careless with the puck, finishing with 21 giveaways compared to just five by the Predators.
“There’s two things it (that stat) tells me-there’s some fatigue in our game, and some guys feel the pressure,” Ruff said. “I’ve already talked to several guys that we need to make plays. If the opposition makes a great play defending us, I’ll live with that, but I don’t want these turnovers.”
Rinne stopped 28 shots.
