Stars Beat Predators

via the Sports Xchange

DALLAS — The Dallas Stars killed off two penalties in overtime, including 31 seconds of a 5-on-3, before beating the Nashville Predators 4-3 in a shootout at American Airlines Arena on Saturday.
Alexander Radulov and Tyler Seguin scored in the shootout and Ben Bishop made 29 saves to help Dallas (20-14-3) win back-to-back games and extend a four-game point streak.
“That’s great whenever you get a division game and win that’s pretty much four points and that’s gonna build great confidence for us right before Christmas,” Stars center Martin Hanzal said. “We beat Chicago and Nashville, they’re great, great teams. So it’s great for our group and we’ve got to build on that.”
Bishop stopped Filip Forsberg and Kevin Fiala in the shootout before Seguin scored in the third round.
In overtime, Stars captain Jamie Benn was called for tripping at 1:05 and Dan Hamhuis cross checked Forsberg at 2:34 of the extra period.




“I take a lot of responsibility myself. We have that long a time to play 4-on-3 and even 5-on-3, we’ve just got to find a way to score,” Predators captain Roman Josi said. “Us guys that are out there, we’ve just got to score. That much time, you gotta put the game away.”
The Stars won four of the five face-offs while short-handed and Bishop made five saves in overtime.
“It’s huge, our goalie made some good saves, our penalty killers stepped up and succeeded with the pressure against from a great power play,” Benn said. “We did a hell of a job tonight in that area.”
Juuse Saaros made 25 saves for Nashville (21-9-5), which lost its third straight game.
It was a big win for Dallas.
“That was a very emotional game. That makes it odd. When it’s that emotional there is no flow. Just sudden changes of direction. There was a lot of intensity in the game,” Stars coach Ken Hitchcock said. “It felt like a playoff game. Again, it just seems like every game in this building is a playoff game right now and it felt like it another one.”
Nashville took a 1-0 lead on its first shot 34 seconds into the game.
Alexei Emelin scored his first goal of the season on a wrist shot from the slot that beat Bishop through a screen.
Calle Jarnkrok gave the Predators a 2-0 lead at 7:03 of the period on a shorthanded wrist shot.
Dallas cut the lead to 2-1 at 12:13 of period when Seguin scored on the power play after a pass from Jamie Benn.
The Stars tied the game at 2-2 at 10:05 of the second period when Antoine Roussel batted a rebound out of mid-air after an initial shot by Radek Faksa.
Martin Hanzal gave Dallas a 3-2 lead at 13:18 of the second period. Gemel Smith set up the goal with a hard shot that rebounded to Hanzal for his third goal of the season.
“For me, (the game) probably turned in the second period when they scored two goals and took the lead,” Predators coach Peter Laviolette said. “We got by the four penalties, but again it just closed the bench.”
Nashville’s Ryan Johansen tied the game at 3-3 with a power-play goal at 4:45 of the third period.



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