Stars Win In Florida
SUNRISE, Fla. — Jamie Benn said he was “(ticked) off.”
After all, the Dallas Stars trailed the Florida Panthers by two goals.
But thanks to center Tyler Seguin’s two goals and two assists and Benn’s two goals — one an empty-netter with 18.6 seconds left — and one assist, the Stars erased their deficit and then some.
Seguin scored the winning goal with 3:02 left in the third period as the Dallas Stars beat the Panthers 4-2 on Saturday night at the BB&T Center.
On the winning goal, Seguin backhanded a rebound, swatting at the puck twice and getting it past Florida goalie Roberto Luongo. Defenseman John Klingberg and Benn had assists on the play.
“It was greasy, kind of how we played,” Seguin said. “Klingberg got it through. I got a tip on it, and it went up in the air. I touched it again — but it was kind of already going in that direction.”
Luongo credited the Stars.
“They have some great forwards, and we knew that going in,” Luongo said. “We got off to a good lead, but then they made us pay. We have to play them again next week. Hopefully, we can learn from our mistakes.”
The Panthers (3-2-0) got goals from centers Aleksander Barkov and
Brandon Pirri.
“We were leading — we had the game in our hands,” Barkov said. “We didn’t score enough and we didn’t defend well.
“(Benn and Seguin) are two of the best players in this league. They are pretty skilled and fast. You have to be aware of them.”
Florida opened the scoring just 59 seconds into the second period, getting a goal from Barkov. The goal was initially disallowed — the officials apparently thought that center Jonathan Huberdeau interfered with Dallas goalie Kari Lehtonen. But after a video review, the goal was allowed.
“Hubie said he didn’t touch him,” Barkov said. “I trust Hubie.”
Just 64 seconds later, the Panthers made it 2-0 on the first goal of the season by Pirri, who was sprung for a breakaway on a pass from right winger Reilly Smith.
Pirri, skating at a high rate of speed, scored five-hole and then crashed hard into the boards. His back took the brunt of the hit, but he stayed in the game.
With 13:29 left in the second period, Dallas cut its deficit to 2-1 with Seguin’s first goal of the night, his second of the season. Left winger Patrick Sharp earned the assist.
The Stars tied the score on a power-play goal just 50 seconds into the third period. Benn skated to the front of the net, beating Florida’s defense to the spot. The pass from Seguin arrived with perfect timing and Benn tipped the puck past Luongo.
“We started to play our game to a higher level,” Benn said of Dallas’ turnaround. “We had a strong third period tonight.”
Seguin said Dallas’ good start is fine, but there is a long way to go.
“I think we started 4-1 last year and then we slipped,” Seguin said.
Panthers coach Gerard Gallant said Dallas deserved to win.
“For most of the game, they were the better team,” Gallant said. “We let them back in it — we turned some pucks over.
“But it’s tough when you lose with three minutes left in the game on basically a turnover play. They made a good play at the point and got the puck through.”
