Desert Dogs. Dallas Stars Game 24: 2-1 Loss at the Phoenix Coyotes

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In their last game against the Phoenix Coyotes this season, the Dallas Stars could only manage a 5-on-3 power play goal as they lost 2-1 Saturday night.

They failed to score on another 5-on-3 opportunity in the third period and ended up splitting their season series with the Coyotes 2-2. The only goal the Stars scored in Phoenix this season was Jaromir Jagr’s 5-on-3 power play goal Saturday.

Kari Lehtonen was solid in net as he stopped 19 shots, but Mike Smith stopped 20 at the other end and his teammates provided some help in the form of 30 blocked shots.

Phoenix opened the scoring when Lauri Korpikoski skated into the Stars zone, stopped and sent a pass back to the blue line where young defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson was late to enter the zone. He collected the puck, did a spinning move to get around Eric Nystrom and sent a pass to Antoine Vermette, who was waiting alone in behind the icing line. He made a quick pass out front and captain Shane Doan put the puck past Lehtonen.

The other two goals of the game came in the second period. The Coyotes took a 2-0 lead 7:31 into the frame when a scrum behind the net resulted in the puck coming out front to Lehtonen’s left where David Moss was standing. He passed the puck over to a wide open Rob Klinkhammer, who buried it past a sprawling Lehtonen.

Jagr’s effort and vision resulted in his power play goal with less than two minutes remaining in the second period. Jagr had taken a shot and skated to the end boards to collect the rebound. He passed the puck up the wall to Loui Eriksson, who returned it to Jagr down low. Jagr curled up to top of the right circle and wristed a puck through a crowd in front of the net and past Smith.  

Jamie Benn left the game in the third period after being hit by Martin Hanzal. With 1:27 left in the period, Benn skated the puck into the Phoenix zone and took a shot that was blocked by a defender. Hanzal skated across the ice and leveled Benn, who was on the ice for a while before skating directly to the locker room.

The Stars return home to face the Nashville Predators Tuesday night.