Game Recap: Stars Win Third Straight; Hand Flyers 12th Loss

It was much more Dallas Stars hockey Monday night in Philadelphia. The Stars won 3-1, their third straight road win, handing the Flyers their 12th straight loss.

The game itself was a defensive battle with random spurts of scoring chances. One team would make a mistake and the other would pounce. Then, the ice would be flipped.

Eventually, a bad pinch by Philly allowed Roope Hintz to stride in free and clear, burying the breakaway through the legs of Carter Hart. It was Hintz’ fourth goal in the last four games and 18th of the season, leading the team in that category. Hintz also added an assist on the empty-net goal from Joe Pavelski to close out the game.

The real story of the game though, was Jake Oettinger. After being pulled from his previous two starts, the young goalie rebounded in a huge way, stopping 27 of 28 shots against the Flyers.

“It is great for us as a team and for me personally,” Oettinger said. “It feels like it’s been a year since I've played. You know, when you don’t play well and you have to sit a little bit, it’s hard, you obviously just want to get back in there. I think the guys played really hard for me. We played so well defensively and didn’t give anything up.”

The only goal that he allowed was an accidental bounce off of John Klingberg’s skate in front. Other than that, the kid was perfect and looked poise in the net all game.

“That was a good game for him to play in,” Bowness said. “Listen, he made some big saves. He played a very solid game. He looked very composed tonight in the net, very confident, and we like to see that look.

Jacob Peterson was the hero tonight as his goal gave the Stars the lead and ended up being the game-winner. After Alexander Radulov broke the ankles of a Flyers defenseman, he slipped a backhand pass out around the net where Peterson was able to rip a quick shot over the nearside shoulder of Hart with just 3:35 left in the game. Peterson has played well since moving up the lineup, scoring in two of his last four games.

“Jacob is sneaky good,” Bowness said. “You watch him when he gets the puck, he hangs onto the puck and he tries to make plays, he doesn’t panic with it. “He is a smart hockey player. That is one thing we noticed from the first day of training camp, the kid has great hockey sense. I love his poise with the puck and he just sneaks away from people.”

Dallas will wrap up their four-game road trip with another back-to-back game in New Jersey on Tuesday. They will face a similarly struggling team in the Devils and look to sweep the road swing.