Game Recap: Seguin Leads Stars, Who Score Six, Blitz Bruins On Home Ice

What a wonderful night it was at the American Airlines Center on Sunday. Dallas came in on a two-game home losing streak and were up against a tough Boston Bruins team. Right from the start, however, the Stars were the better team on their way to an impressive 6-1 victory.

“That was probably the best game we played all year,” Rick Bowness said. “That is what we need, we need contributions from the other lines. Seggys [Seguin] line stepped up big tonight, Glennie [Glendenning] got a big goal for us, Rads [Radulov]. That is what we need, we need some more offense spread out throughout the team.”

Tyler Seguin led the way against his former team, racking up two goals and one assist in the game. He kicked off the scoring when he tapped in a rebound on a 2-on-1 rush 6:54 into the first period and added the sixth goal in the third period on yet another 2-on-1. Seguin now has nine points in his last seven games.

“They are skating, they are using their speed, and when they do that, they are tough to defend,” Bowness said of Seguin's line. “That is what they have to use, their skating. We saw it tonight, but when we talk about consistency of the team, it’s gotta be consistent, they gotta keep it going.”

A few Stars got the monkey off their backs tonight as Alexander Radulov, Jamie Benn, and Luke Glendenning all lit the lamp against the Bruins. Radulov’s tally was the first in 28 games, Benn scored his first in the last 11, and Glendening tipped home his first in 25 games.

Jake Oettinger was spectacular again tonight for the Stars, stopping 25 of 26 Boston shots. In his last two starts, the 23-year-old holds a 2-0-0 record, .962 save percentage, and 1.00 goals-against average.

“They have been one of the best teams in the league for the last like 10 years,” Oettinger said. “It is always a good challenge and I just want to show that I can be counted on in big games against those top teams. Whenever your team can put up goal support like that for you, it’s huge and you just needed a couple of key saves and knew the guys were going to do the rest.”

Boston’s Craig Smith broke the shutout when his shot snuck by Oettinger early in the third period on what was otherwise a perfect game for the young goalie.

Jamie Benn and Denis Gurianov tallied two points while Jason Robertson and Roope Hintz also hit the scoresheet upfront for Dallas.

A huge part of the success for the Stars was the return of their lethal forecheck. After missing for most of the game against Washington, the forecheck pushed hard against Boston, forcing them to turn over plenty of pucks and feed the Stars offensive game.

“We are in the playoff race, so every point for us matters right now,” Radulov said. “Especially when we play at home. We cannot afford to lose two in a row. I think everybody battled hard today and everybody came up ready. We played Dallas Stars hockey and it ended up paying off.”

Dallas has now won five of their last six games and has one more game on the schedule before the All-Star break, when the Calgary Flames--who Dallas is currently tied with for the second Wild-Card spot, come to town on Tuesday, Feb. 2.