Stars Experience Déjà Vu, Beat Ducks 3-2 Again

Granted, it wasn’t quite the same — this one went to overtime!

The second verse wasn’t quite the same as the first, but the result was the same: the Dallas Stars once again took down the Anaheim Ducks 3-2.

The Stars dominated offensive possession for most of the game, but unfortunately didn’t have much to show for it. Ryan Suter took the lead halfway through the first on the power play, but the next goal came courtesy of Jamie Drysdale at the end of the second, who’s shot off of the backboards rebounded on Oettinger and into the net.

Dallas finally reclaimed their lead late in the third when Andrej Sekera got one past Gibson, but Kevin Shattenkirk immediately tied things back up with an excellent tip. The two teams ultimately headed to overtime, where Miro Heiskanen was able to setup Jamie Benn for a breakaway game winner.

The win puts Dallas back ahead of the Vegas Golden Knights or the second Wild Card spot by a single point, although with three games in hand. Which, again, sounds very familiar. The Stars have one more game in California when they take on the San Jose Sharks on Saturday at 9:30 CT.

First Period

Dallas practically lived in the offensive and neutral zone for the first half or so of the first period, thanks to several miscues and turnovers by the Ducks. This didn’t result in many scoring chances at first, but then Isac Lundestrom took an interference penalty against Tyler Seguin roughly eight minutes in. It took nearly the full power play, but Ryan Suter was able to pounce on a loose puck to strike first for Dallas:

Dallas continued to dominate possession afterwards. Their best opportunity came from Joe Pavelski following a rebound, John Gibson got it with his blocker. With three minutes left, Joel Hanely went to the box for (ironically) interfering Lundestrom, but the Stars’ penalty kill looked more lethal than the Ducks’ power play.

Nothing of note happened in the minute that followed, and Dallas headed to the locker room with all the momentum.

Score: Dallas 1, Anaheim 0
Shots: Dallas 14, Anaheim 4

Second Period

Anaheim found their map to the offensive zone during intermission, but weren’t really sure what to do once the go there — it took them five minutes to register their first shot on net of the period, although the Stars didn’t fare much better. Alexander Radulov tripped up Trevor Zegras right in front of a referee about halfway through, but all their shooting attempts went wide or were blocked or deflected.

Both teams’ offense picked up in the later half after a commercial break. The chance came when the puck deflected off of Gibson’s mask and shoulder, was then batted by Radulov’s stick, and finally bounced off of the top of the net — the initial angle made it look like the puck might have gone in otherwise, but replays showed otherwise.

Things began to settle down as the period came to an end, and Dallas looked all but guaranteed to head back to the locker room still up by one. So naturally the Ducks scored, thanks to a Jamie Drysdale shot that went off the backboards and then bounced off Jake Oettinger and in.

Score: Dallas 1, Anaheim 1
Shots: Dallas 23, Anaheim 10

Third Period

The Stars once again began the period with the only shots on goal for roughly five minutes. Afterwards, both teams began trading scoring chances, though both Gibson and Oettinger refused to let anything by them.

Radulov then took another tripping penalty with roughly nine minutes to go, followed by a scary moment where a frustrated John Klingberg accidentally shot the puck into a linesman. Unlike their previous chances, the Ducks tested Oettinger multiple times on the power play, but the Stars’ goaltender stood tall.

Seguin then had his best chance to score his first career goal against Anaheim off of the rush, but was unable to get it past Gibson. What followed was a flurry of scoring opportunities by both teams, going back and forth between the two. Ultimately, it was *checks notes* Andrej Sekera who finally found twine:

Unfortunately, the Ducks immediately responded when Kevin Shattenkirk deflected a Urho Vaakanainen shot past Oettinger, the fourth defenseman to score. Each team got a couple more chances, but eventually we headed into overtime.

Score: Dallas 1, Anaheim 1
Shots: Dallas 23, Anaheim 10

Overtime

3-on-3 started with Troy Terry getting a shot past Heiskanen, though Oettinger was able to stop it. Heiskanen then took the puck up the boards and rebounded the puck off Gibson, but no one was able to pick it up.

Terry then failed to get a 2-on-1 by losing his footing, falling to the ice. The Ducks were soon able to setup a decent scoring chance anyways, but Heiskanen broke apart a cross-ice pass. He then flipped it up to Jamie Benn for a breakaway, and the captain sealed the deal:

Final Score: Dallas 3, Anaheim 2
Final Shots: Dallas 35, Anaheim 23

Mood: