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The Dallas Stars stayed patient in a slogfest and eventually converted in a 2-0 win against the New York Rangers at American Airlines Center on Saturday.
Stars lines
- Hryckowian – Johnston – Rantanen
- Robertson – Duchene – Bourque
- Erne – Hyry – Benn
- Hughes – Bäck – Blackwell
- Lindell – Lyubushkin
- Harley – Myers
- Bichsel – Petrovic
- Oettinger
- DeSmith
Scratches: Capobianco, Heiskanen (injured), Lundkvist (illness), Bunting (injured), Steel (injured), Bastian (injured), Hintz (injured), Faksa (IR), Seguin (SELTIR)
Top story
Let’s look at the massive list of injuries and their latest updates.
- Miro Heiskanen (lower body): Out for the rest of the regular season. Had an MRI on Friday. Team said it was between good and bad news. Hopeful he can play in Game 1, but won’t know for a few days.
- Roope Hintz (lower body): Has not skated, not certain if he will be ready for Game 1.
- Sam Steel (groin/hip flexor): Has started skating and is now day-to-day. Hope he plays on the road trip.
- Radek Faksa (unkown): Very close, has been skating with the team. Hope is for Monday in Toronto.
- Michael Bunting (lower body): Very close, has been skating with the team. Hope is for Monday in Toronto.
- Nathan Bastian (hand): Still 3-4 weeks away. Earliest would be second round.
- Nils Lundkvist (illness): Not concerned it’s long term. Hope for the road trip.
- My brain from trying to remember all of these every day: Day-to-day.
Lots of healing to get done before next weekend.
Live game notebook
Period 1
- In the first seven minutes of this game, a big hit by Adam Erne on Adam Sýkora is the only highlight. Zero shots on goal for either team. Oh, someone broke a stick just by catching a pass, which was interesting.
- Sleeeeeeeepy matinee game.
- Finally, a bit of action for the crowd, as Ty Kartye bumps Thomas Harley after the whistle, and Jamie Benn, Erne, and Tyler Myers step in for support. Benn and Kartye get minors, and somehow Myers got an extra minor. Didn’t feel like the type of scrum to result in a power play.
- Mikko Rantanen is such a good hockey player, and usually, he makes the elite play. But sometimes, his pass-first mentality can lead to missed opportunities to shoot the puck and result in nothing. Kind of like that entire first period. Nothing.
- Shots 5-3 Rangers after 20. And even that seems high.
Stars 0, Rangers 0
Period 2
- Every pass today has been just out of reach, in skates, or too slow. Not a lot of clean plays.
- Rangers get a shot from the slot, Oettinger makes the save, but has no clue where the rebound is. JT Miller finds it behind Oettinger and backhands it through his own legs off the outside of the post.
- Good work by Dallas to easily kill off an offensive-zone penalty by Mavrik Bourque. Could have easily swung the game.
- Stars get their best chance of the game, as Harley finds Matt Duchene on a breakaway. Igor Shesterkin made a good blocker save.
- Justin Hryckowian drew a tripping call on Vincent Trochek and made us a bit nervous, going down awkwardly into the end boards with his leg bent behind him. He jumped right up and looks fine.
- BIG NEWS: The Rangers won the race to 10 shots. It took them almost until the second intermission. Dallas sits at nine.
- When there has been a breakdown, which hasn’t happened much because the offense has not forced them to, Oettinger has made a couple of nice saves.
- Benn just ran Vladislov Kavrikov in the corner. Looked bad in real time, but then it looked like it was more from the side of the Rangers defenseman when watching the replay. Benn got jumped by Miller, and they dropped the gloves. Only a minor to Benn. Gavrikov stays in the game. Don’t forget, Gavrikov was the one who injured Tyler Seguin back in NY when he fell on him and tore his ACL. I highly, highly doubt that was any retribution for what looked like an accident, but a full circle moment.
- Speaking of Seguin, this was adorable from warmup today:
- I was a bit surprised to see Myers in the lineup. With him re-aggravating an injury and it slowing him down, as Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said, it felt like the kind of game to hold him out for precaution, as they did with Michael Bunting.
- Speaking of Myers, he takes a high stick in the mouth from Trochek and is bleeding all over the ice. Trochek gets a double minor, yet still complains even after seeing the replay.
Stars 0, Rangers 0
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Period 3
- Remember when Dallas beat New York 10-2 way back when? We could use some of that right now. Even just a little.
- Oh man, Duchene just had a glorious chance on the power play, taking a pass coming downhill in the slot and walking in along on Shesterkin. Duchene went for his favorite harley kick fake shot, which he usually then pulls to the backhand, but he stuck with the shot anyway, despite having a ton of room, and Shesterkin waaaaaay out of his crease. What a chance.
- Rantanen just threw a perfect pass into space for Cameron Hughes to chip on net.
- FINALLY, we have a goal. After Shesterkin made a good save on Duchene’s low shot, Jason Robertson picked up the rebound and tucked it over the glove with a beautiful forehand-backhand move from the bottom of the left circle. Really good forecheck effort by Wyatt Johnston to get the puck loose to Duchene and start the play. Gulutzan called Johnston slippery.
- Some other actual exciting news – Dallas has now officially clinched home ice in the first round of the playoffs after Minnesota lost in regulation to Nashville. So, that’s fun!
- New York just really never had its push.
- Perhaps one of the funnier empty-net goals ever. Mavrik Bourque blocked a shot and chipped the puck up to Robertson. Robertson shot from the blue line and missed wide. Duchene won the race to the puck, pulled off a slick spin-o-rama, but hit the post. And finally, Robertson buried the rebound as the Rangers slid to try and block it. It was quite entertaining and put Robertson up top tied with Johnston for the team lead in goals (44).
Final: Stars 2, Rangers 0
Quotable
Stars coach Glen Gulutzan
“Yeah, if I look back at the year, at the beginning, we were a little bit better on the road than we were at home. And then we kind of got our home record sorted out and a good feeling at home… I thought today’s game, too, was physical, I mean, it wasn’t a light contest. So, that’s good. We just keep playing the same way, and I like the way we responded later in the game.“
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