Stars Shutout Pittsburgh
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DALLAS — What a difference five days makes. In a week the Dallas Stars began with a 4-1 loss at Nashville on Monday, they concluded the week with an impressive 3-0 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins before a sellout crowd on Saturday at American Airlines Center.
Dallas (24-20-8), which beat the Minnesota Wild 4-0 on Tuesday and the Toronto Maple Leafs 7-1 on Thursday, received goals from defenseman Sergei Gonchar, center and captain Jamie Benn and center Rich Peverley in the win against Pittsburgh.
Goalie Kari Lehtonen stopped 24 shots to earn his second straight shutout for Dallas and the 25th of his career. Lehtonen also assisted on the power-play goal by Gonchar, his fourth assist of the season.
The Stars, who have now won three straight, took the lead by converting on the power play 15:02 into the opening period when Gonchar connected on a wrister from the high slot. Gonchar was fed by left winger Ray Whitney to set up a shot that careened off the far post before going in.
Dallas was on the power play after Penguins defenseman Olli Maatta was whistled for holding at 13:48.
“I think we’ve been locked in,” Stars head coach Lindy Ruff said of his
club’s current streak. “There has been energy in our game. We don’t have a lot of long shifts facing three shots and there haven’t been a lot of turnovers in the neutral zone.”
Through one period, Dallas outshot Pittsburgh 10-4 and 22-12 through two periods.
For Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma, the Gonchar goal was what turned the game in Dallas’ favor.
“I thought the first 10 minutes of this game, we came out strong, came out good. I think momentum changed, we turn over the puck in the neutral zone, led back to a chance against and then we took a penalty,” Bylsma said. “That got their first power-play goal and in this game, we’re minus-2 in the special teams battle and that was a big part of the story tonight.”
Dallas scored again at 3:13 of the second when Benn beat Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury top shelf with a wrister from the right circle for a power-play goal. Stars defenseman Alex Goligoski picked up the primary assist with his pass to Benn. It was Goligoski’s eighth assist over his past seven games.
The Stars were on the power play after Penguins defenseman Kris Letang was called for roughing at 1:14.
The Stars also had two close calls following Benn’s 19th goal of the season. Center Tyler Seguin sent a shot off the left post from the left circle at 5:19 and Whitney then found the other post with a wrister from the high slot at 5:35.
Peverley then went top shelf on Fleury at 10:20 of the second for his seventh of the season to put Dallas up 3-0. Fellow center Shawn Horcoff stole the puck from Penguins center Evgeni Malkin in neutral ice and Horcoff fed Peverley, who skated up the right side of the ice and delivered a wrister that sailed over Fleury’s glove.
Dallas had two more near-misses early in the third when Benn hit the crossbar at 1:32 and center Cody Eakin also drew iron off a rebound at 3:54.
Pittsburgh got arguably its best chance of the night at 5:24 of the final period when, during a power play, Malkin sent a blistering slap shot from the right circle that Lehtonen got his glove on.
“I’ve been feeling good mentally and physically,” Lehtonen said after his third shutout of the season. “Being a goalie is a funky business. I can feel good and still things cannot go my way.”
Dallas was 2-for-3 on the power play. The Stars’ penalty kill was a perfect 4-for-4 against the Penguins’ power play, one of the NHL’s five best units on the road.
Fleury stopped 25 shots for Pittsburgh.
