Game Recap: Stars Never Trail, Earn Huge Victory Over Nashville At Home

The Stars knew that tonight’s game would be a playoff-like atmosphere between division rivals. The game did not disappoint as Dallas skated away with an exciting 4-3 victory at the American Airlines Center.

Things started off rather bumpy as Joe Pavelski was called for slashing only 23 seconds into the first period. The Dallas penalty kill held, however, the first of four successful penalty kills on a perfect night for a unit that has struggled as of late.

Dallas got on the board first when Jason Robertson tipped in a John Klingberg point shot while on a 4 on 3 power play in the first period. Robertson added another power-play goal in the second period in very similar fashion, deftly tipping in another Klingberg shot.

“He is something else,” John Klingberg said. “He is so smart. On the second one, it was kind of funny. I told Pavelski right before that they were giving me the lane, get to the net. He was kind of tied up and Robertson was open. He just finds that open spot and that is a world-class tip as well. He keeps surprising I think and he is so smart in different ways. He is a really good all-around hockey player.”

The Stars never trailed in the game but Nashville kept things interesting all the way through. Each time Dallas took the lead, the Predators responded in quick fashion.

After Robertson’s second power-play goal, Matt Duchene found himself alone in front and outwaited Jake Oettinger to tie the game at two. Then, following a beautiful breakaway goal by Roope Hintz, Nashville scored with only nine seconds remaining in the second period, once again tying the game.

Dallas opted to challenge the goal for goaltender interference but was unsuccessful, resulting in both a tie game and a minor penalty for the Stars to kill early in the third period.

Not only the Stars penalty kill hold again, but soon after, an excellent defensive play by Luke Glendening led to a 2-on-1 the other way. Michael Raffl made a crisp pass over to Glendening, who roofed a shot past Juuse Saros to give Dallas a 4-3 lead.

“You see the second effort, he is on his knees fighting for the puck,” Rick Bowness said. “We talked yesterday about how this is going to be a playoff-type game, and it was. You need those kinds of efforts and that’s a huge goal for us. Having Michael Raffl back was huge for us, he had a great game. We got good games from everybody tonight, that was a hell of a hockey game.”

The remainder of the game flowed perfectly for Dallas. They kept Nashville to the outside while continuing to push forward, coming close to extending their lead on multiple occasions.

With the win, Dallas takes the first huge step in their fight for a playoff spot in the Western Conference. It was also a huge win against a tough Central Division opponent they are currently chasing in the second half of the season.

“Where we put ourselves, we gotta have a high level of desperation, and sometimes that’s what it takes,” Glendening said. It’s a good step and we will keep going from here.”

The Stars will practice tomorrow before another important home game against a Central Divison opponent, the Winnipeg Jets on Friday night.

Key Stats

• Jason Robertson was named the first star of the game with two goals

• Roope Hintz (1G, 1A) and John Klingberg (2A) also recorded two points

• Roman Josi led all Predators with two points

• Both goaltenders struggled in the game - Jake Oettinger finished with a .870 save percentage while Juuse Saros had a .852

• Radek Faksa left the game in the third period with an apparent injury. Rick Bowness said that they will re-evaluate him tomorrow