Dallas Stars Game 21: The Good and the Bad

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Dallas Stars 5-1 loss to Edmonton Oilers

Shots: Dallas 34, Edmonton 38

PP: Dallas 0-5, Edmonton 1-9

The Good:

Erik Cole- Not necessarily the kind of game you want to debut in, but Cole showed why the Stars wanted him. He didn’t get on the scoresheet, but we got to see what we can expect over the next two and a half seasons. Cole used his body shielding players off the puck as he skated hard along the wing. He stood in front of the net, took abuse and battled to hold his ground and provide a screen. He took two good shots on his first two shifts. I liked his second shot where he made a move near the blue line, zoomed by a defender, circled around the back of the net and shot a backhander on the wrap around. He didn’t get all of the shot, but he created something out of nothing and got a decent chance off of it. My favorite part of his night was when the Oilers had a short-handed breakaway and he hustled from the offensive zone blue line all the way back to the Stars’ net and fouled up the play just enough to save a goal, even a shot, from happening. Hopefully, we’ll soon get to see him factor in a victory.

Cole's second shot, and his second best play of the night.

Penalty Kill-Tall, tall task this game. But they were a bright spot for the Stars. They killed 8 of 9 opportunities on the night and had to suffer through three separate 5-on-3’s. They kept the Oilers to the outside. They kept the cute plays out of the Edmonton power play, and, for once, they positioned themselves well against plays from behind the net. They even had a couple of short-handed rushes.

This is what the Stars had the face three times. Scary power play with a nice set up on a 5-on-3.

The Bad:

Mindless penalties- Here’s the list: Fiddler committed a slash in the offensive zone. Nystrom was called for boarding when he rammed Potter (and his head) into the boards. Dillon cross-checked Eberle’s back and sent him face-first into the boards. Jamie Benn held a defender’s stick in the offensive zone, trying to get a split-second edge. Too many men penalty called when Daley changed a little too quickly trying to jump in on a short-handed rush. Any of these sound smart? Even before the score got ugly, they were committing these dumb penalties. Can’t imagine the migraine Gulutzan had as he watched this game.

Nystrom's boarding penalty. Potter left the game after this play.

Dillon's boarding penalty. 

Kari Lehtonen- Not the way to come back. Yes, they weren’t all on him. Oilers were wide open numerous times throughout the game. but still, two goals went past him that shouldn’t have. The two I’m talking about are the Gagner goal (first for the Oilers) and the Petry goal (Oilers’ third goal). Gagner’s goal came from behind the goal line. He threw the puck out front, it hit off of Lehtonen’s blocker and went in the net. Petry was a backhand from the left wing boards that Lehtonen tried to deflect out front, but instead it hit off of Daley and fluttered behind Lehtonen. He made a few decent saves here and there, but he wasn’t as good as he could be, and neither was the defense in front of him.

Edmonton goal #1- Gagner, from behind the goal line, throws the puck at the net. It hits off Lehtonen and goes in.

Edmonton goal #3- Petry throws a turn-around backhander at the net. Lehtonen uses his stick to deflect it but it hits Daley in front and goes in.

Defensive zone coverages- The Oilers should’ve ended up with at least 8 goals. I counted three off the post and two wide open one-timers that didn’t go in so that’s 10 right there. It was embarrassing how many times a white jersey was left alone to skate in unguarded for a pass or shot. And it’s not like they weren’t covered along the blue line, or along the boards. They were left unguarded in the circles and in the slot.

Edmonton goal #2- Schultz (19, far right) skates in freely and gets a one-timer past Lehtonen on an Eberle (top center) saucer pass.

Edmonton goal #4- Jordie Benn misplays the puck behind the net. Puck comes out front and Hemsky (top center) wrists it in past Lehtonen's blocker.

Edmonton goal #5- Eager (bottom center) is wide open for a pass. He takes a blazing one-timer that goes past Lehtonen. You can see the room to Lehtonen's left where Eager put the puck.

Power play- It’s not just that the Stars didn’t score on 5 chances. It’s not that they have been hot for a little while and just went completely cold all of a sudden. It’s the manner in which they went cold. Twice they didn’t get a full 2 minutes, but if you look at the three full power play opportunities, here’s what I think you’ll see. The first was an absolute mess. It was convoluted, sloppy and repetitive. It looked as though they didn’t where they were going or where their teammates on the ice were going. Nothing came out of the first chance. The second was the best in my opinion. They looked more in control, they made more passes and looked for better shots. They had a few close ones, but of course no goal. The third chance they resorted to a middle ground. They stood around and watched too much, but they did get some good passes and shots off.

Benn’s hit on Jones- I’m all for defending your goalie and sticking up for your teammates. But Jones obviously didn’t crash the net with intent to injure Lehtonen. He was creating a scoring chance and with a little contact and a lot of momentum he ended up colliding with Lehtonen. You can see he held up and even grabbed on to Lehtonen, and then patted him on the head as he skated off knowing he was called for interference. I would’ve had no problem with Benn legally landing a big hit on him or asking him drop the gloves, but Jamie Benn decided to jump on the ice for a line change and immediately cross-check Jones’ lower back. As much as I like Benn and defending your team’s honor, this was dirty and definitely not the right way to go about getting revenge. Hopefully there’s no further punishment coming.

Benn's cross-check to the back on Jones. He received a game misconduct and a 5 minute major.

Faceoffs- Again, they didn’t fare too well. Benn won 7 of 18, Roy won 8 of 18, Eakin won 5 of 14, Fiddler won 10 of 19.

Lines seen tonight:

Morrow-Benn-Jagr

Roussel-Roy-Eriksson

Smith-Eakin-Cole

Nystrom-Fiddler-Garbutt

Dillon-Robidas

Benn- Daley

Goligoski-Oleksiak

PP-Jagr-Benn-Eriksson-Cole-Goligoski

PP- Eakin-Smith-Morrow-Roy-Daley

PK- Eriksson-Roy-Dillon-Robidas

PK- Fiddler-Nystrom-Benn-Daley

PK- Nystrom-Garbutt-Dillon-Robidas

PK- Benn-Eakin-Benn-Daley

5-on-3 PK- Fiddler-Daley-Robidas

Notable Notes:

Dallas' only goal- Gologoski tries to stick-handle through a crowd. The puck gets poked away and Jagr (top right) skates in off a change and rips it through the bodies and into the net.

Brenden Dillon fought Sam Gagner near the end of the second period. It was much of a fight as Gagner immediately went for the wrap up. Dillon threw a few punches and the refs pulled them apart.

Daley made the defensive play of the night for the Stars. He laid out on a 2-on-1 and knocked the puck away from Eberle. No shot or pass taken on this play thanks to Daley. 

Dillon exploded through middle of the ice during a 4-on-4 but Dubnyk came out and made the save.

Mark Fistric played his first game back in Dallas.

Plays like this led to wide open chances time and time again for the Oilers. There's 3 Oilers on this screen, two were on the far left off screen standing wide open.

Jere Lehtinen was announced as the 4th member of the Dallas Stars 20th Anniversary team.

Struck By Oil. Dallas Stars Game 21: 5-1 Loss to the Edmonton Oilers

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Before Thursday night, the Edmonton Oilers had not won a game in regulation in Dallas since December 8, 2006. That all changed in the form of a very ugly and defensively sloppy 5-1 romping of the Stars.

Kari Lehtonen’s return from a groin injury did not go as planned. He allowed five goals on 38 shots, two of which were bounces off his blocker and his own defender.

Sam Gagner opened the scoring for Edmonton just 1:13 into the game when he stood behind the goal line and threw the puck at the net that deflected off of Lehtonen’s blocker and into the net. It was a sign of things to come. Later in the period, Jordan Eberle dished the puck across the slot to a wide open Justin Schultz, who was streaking toward the net. He one-timed the puck up and over Lehtonen’s glove to give the Oilers a 2-0 lead heading to the second period.

The only goal in the second period, came with 14 seconds left when Jeff Petry spun a backhand shot toward the net. Lehtonen dropped to his knees and used his stick to deflect the puck forward. It bounced off of Trevor Daley at the top of the crease and fluttered off of Lehtonen’s elbow and into the net.

With a 3-0 deficit, the Stars looked to start the third period off on the right foot to dig themselves out of the hole they were in. Instead, Ales Hemsky collected a loose puck at in the high slot and wristed a power play goal 50 seconds into the third period.

Later in the period, Lennart Petrell made a pass to an open Ben Eager who blasted the puck past Lehtonen. Jaromir Jagr broke Edmonton goalie Devan Dubnyk’s shutout bid with 5:55 left in the third period. Antoine Roussel’s strong work along the boards opened up enough room for him to pass to Alex Goligoski at the top of the right circle. Goligoski attempted to stick handle through a crowd, but the puck was poked away. Jagr skated right into the zone off a line change and ripped the puck past Dubnyk.

The  Stars’ streak of three or more goals a game ended and their hot power play cooled off as they failed to score on five opportunities. One of the very few bright spots for Dallas was their penalty kill, which went 8-for-9 on the night.

Dallas’s next game is at home Sunday afternoon against the St. Louis Blues.

Dallas Stars Game 20: The Good and the Bad

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Dallas Stars 5-4 OT win at Columbus Blue Jackets

Shots: Dallas 39, Columbus 20

PP: Dallas 0-1, Columbus 0-1

*DALLAS STARS TRADE MICHAEL RYDER AND A 3rd ROUND PICK TO THE MONTREAL CANADIENS FOR ERIK COLE*

The Good:

Antoine Roussel- He generated lots of energy, finished his checks, pushed hard at both ends of the ice and, best of all, helped out on the scoreboard. Roussel’s strong forecheck (along with Roy) led to a Columbus turnover and he got the puck to the point which led to Roy’s rebound goal. Roussel’s goal came on a re-direction of a shot from the point that was going wide of the net. Not sure if he’ll stay on this line once Erik Cole joins the team, but for this game at least, he really provided a spark and helped this line be the best on the ice for Dallas.

Dallas goal #3- Dillon's (top right) shot from the point gets re-directed by Roussel (bottom right).

2^nd line- I mentioned Roussel above, but it was more than just him. The Stars’ second line dominated for the team. They were absolutely ferocious in the offensive zone. Their forecheck was very strong and effective and directly led to goals and chances. They were good on the back check and seemed to always be on the ice. Eriksson was mainly the setup man for the line throughout the game, but he took 5 shots of his own, including the game-winner in overtime. The line managed 3 goals, 2 assists and 14 shots.

Dallas goal #5- OT winner! Dillon was at the left point and he passed the puck to Roy on the right wing boards. He let the puck hit off the wall and he took a slap shot that Bobrovsky stopped. Bobrovsky did, however, give up a rebound right in front. Eriksson fought to get to the front of the net, got the puck and tucked in behind Bobrovsky for the win. 

Alex Goligoski- He actually looked like a confident player. He was strong defensively and he did what he was originally brought to Dallas for. He carried the puck out of the zone, pushed up on offensive rushes and took some big shots from the point. A couple of times he went in deep ending up around or behind the Columbus net. He had his pocket picked for a quality chance by Columbus, but Bachman bailed him out. He simply played better than he has recently.

Back-to-back slump over- Stars finally break the slump and get a win in the second of a back-to-back. This was their second win of the sort over the past two seasons. The Stars are now 2-15-2 in the second of back-to-back games over the past two seasons. 

The Bad:

Richard Bachman- Not good but not terrible. More like average, but for Bachman this season, average is good. As Turco mentioned on FSSW he wasn’t set when the shots were taken. Sure, some of the goals were by open players in front, but some he should’ve stopped. Dorsett was left open in front to score his goal so Bachman can’t really be blamed for that, but he did kick out the puck for a rebound. On Nikitin’s goal, it’s true that there was no pressure on the Columbus defensemen off the faceoff, but that’s also a shot that Bachman should’ve had. There was no screen, no player setting up shop on the edge of the crease. Bachman was simply beat. On the 3^rd goal, Atkinson was left open in perfect position for the puck on a blocked shot to tie the game 3-3. And then Umberger was open in the slot for Columbus’ fourth goal but he got a piece of it. He did make some big saves that gave the Stars a chance at a win, like the big glove save on Johansen during the 4-on-4 early in the 3rd period and save on Foligno after a Goligoski turnover.

Giving up easy goals- The Stars continue to give up easy goals. After a faceoff loss by Benn, there was no pressure on the points and an uncontested blast from the blue line gave the Blue Jackets their first goal. On the second goal, Dorsett was covered on his initial shot, but Benn got turned around and Dorsett was left alone to pop in the rebound a few feet in front of Bachman. The third goal did come on a broken play when Aucoin’s shot from the right wing boards hit a skate in front. Still, Atkinson was left all alone to the right of Bachman in a perfect position to wrist the puck into the net. Jordie Benn’s pass from behind the net was picked by Foligno along the boards and sent to Umberger who was wide open between the hash marks for the goal.

Columbus goal #1- No pressure after faceoff loss leads to a shot byNikitin from the point (top center) going right by Bachman's glove. 

Columbus goal #2- Dorsett's first shot hits Benn's stick and Bachman's pad. Benn let him go and Dorsett wristed it over Bachman's right shoulder. 

Columbus goal #3- Aucoin's shot from the right wing boards hits a skate in front and goes to a wide open Atkinson, who rifles it in past a scrambling Bachman.

Columbus goal #4- Jordie Benn's pass from behind the net gets intercepted by Foligno along the left wing boards. He centers it for an open Umberger who rips it past Bachman.

Can’t hold a lead- The Stars manage to take leads and have recently been able to follow up with a quick strike, but in back-to-back games now the Stars have allowed a goal within a couple of minutes of their own goal. It only took Columbus 51 seconds to erase Dallas’ 2-1 lead in the second. The Stars never trailed, yet they barely managed to squeak out a victory. Stars seem to lack the ability to own a lead and hold strong or kick the opponent when they’re down and get the win.

First line disappearing- Benn seemed to always have two bodies on him, or at least two sticks hassling him. Jagr had a little more time and room to create but his passes seemed to be a little off today and a couple of times he made one too many moves with the puck. Morrow did score a goal but it wasn’t with the full 1^st line out and it came on a pass from Eakin that bounced off his foot and in. The Stars were very fortunate that the 2^nd line dominated the game for the Stars and they received some secondary scoring. If Columbus can do this, what will the stronger defensive teams do against the Stars’ top line?

Dallas goal #1- Eakin (far right) throws the puck in the middle and it hits off Morrow's skate and goes in.

A different angle of the Morrow goal. You can see Morrow's skates still facing forward and the puck is already ahead of him headed to the net.

Lines seen tonight:

Morrow-Benn-Jagr

Roussel-Roy-Eriksson

Smith-Eakin-Fraser

Nystrom-Fiddler-Garbutt

Dillon-Robidas

Benn- Daley

Goligoski-Oleksiak

PP-Jagr-Benn-Eriksson-Jagr-Goligoski

PP- Eakin-Smith-Morrow-Benn-Daley

PK- Eriksson-Roy-Dillon-Robidas

PK- Fiddler-Nystrom-Benn-Daley

PK- Eakin-Roussel-Dillon-Robidas

Notable Notes:

• Faceoffs- Benn won 9 of 16, Roy won 5 of 13, Eakin won 4 of 10 and Fiddler won 9 of 14.
• The win tied the Stars’ record of 11 straight games with 3 or more goals scored
• Michael Ryder and 3^rd round pick traded to Montreal for Erik Cole (who waived his limited no trade clause)

FSSW's comparison of the players in the trade.

Dallas goal #4- Eakin skated in past the blue line and took a wrist shot that snuck through Bobrovsky.

Dallas goal #2- A Jordie Benn blast from the point hits a body in front and Roy is on the doorstep to put the puck in the net.

Stars Jack Up The Jackets. Dallas Stars Game 20: 5-4 OT Win at the Columbus Blue Jackets

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The back-to-back slump is over.

Loui Eriksson’s diving goal in overtime gave the Dallas Stars a 5-4 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets Tuesday night. It was the first time this season, and the second time in two seasons, that the Stars won the second game of a back-to-back.

It took nine goals, but the Stars were the first and the last to score and never trailed in the win.

Dallas opened the scoring with five minutes left in the first period when Cody threw the puck in the slot off Brenden Morrow’s skate and in. The play was reviewed, but it was determined Morrow did not kick the puck in.

Columbus scored 1:21 into the second period when Columbus won a faceoff in the Stars’ zone and Nikita Nikitin blasted a shot from the point. The second line dominated the game for the Stars and provided the goal for a 2-1 lead when Roy popped in a rebound that fell to the right of Sergei Bobrovsky.

Fifty-one seconds later, Columbus tied the game when Richard Bachman kicked out a rebound that Derek Dorsett was left to wrist in over Bachman’s right shoulder.

New second-line member Antoine Roussel gave the Stars back the lead when he re-directed a shot blasted from the point by Brenden Dillon. There was only one penalty in the first period and none in the second, but a Dillon scuffle with Colton Gillies to open the third led to a 4-on-4 in which Bachman came up with a big save on a Ryan Johansen breakaway.

Columbus did tie the game up 6:16 into the period when Adrian Aucoin’s shot from the right wing boards hit a skate in front and drifted to a wide open Cam Atkinson to Bachman’s right. Atkinson quickly fired the puck into the goal past a sprawling Bachman.

Later in the third period, Cody Eakin squeaked a wrist shot from the blue line through Bobrovsky for the 4-3 lead, but a turnover in the defensive zone led to an R.J. Umberger goal that tied the game back up. For the second game in a row, the Stars had a lead entering the third period, but had to settle the score in overtime.

On the game-winning goal, Dillon sent a pass over to Derek Roy on the right wing boards and he one-timed the puck at the net. Bobrovsky made the save, but the rebound bounced out directly in front of the net. Eriksson battled to get to the front of the net, corralled the puck and dove as he tucked it into the net behind Bobrovsky.

The Stars will head back home and prepare to face the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night.  

Dallas Stars Game 19: The Good and the Bad

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Dallas Stars 5-4 OT loss at Nashville Predators

Shots: Dallas 24, Nashville 31

PP: Dallas 2-4, Nashville 1-4

The Good:

Matt Fraser- He didn’t do much but he did show he can take advantage of his time with the big club. He scored his first NHL on a fanned one-timer by Roy that came from a behind the back pass from Loui Eriksson behind Rinne. He showed only a few glimpses of his speed and physicality, but I think he’ll get more comfortable and play better with more games under his belt. His numbers in the AHL prove he’s a sniper and don’t forget his first shift in the NHL last season he blazed down the left boards past a defender and nearly roofed the puck in the net, so he is definitely an offensive threat the Stars can use. Same goes for his speed and body.

Dallas goal #1- Eriksson was behind the net and made a behind-the-back pass to Roy. He fanned on the shot but the puck slid right through to Fraser (center) who ripped the puck past Rinne.

Fraser was all smiles after his first NHL goal

Trevor Daley- Coming back from a neck injury, Daley looked normal. He was strong defensively, quick on the turnaround and moved up on a few rushes. Was a little scary when Hornvqist’s stick tripped him into the end boards on an icing, but good to see he got up fine.

Power play- 4 power play goals in the last two games?! Wow that practice last week really paid off. They have a slightly different setup now, but most importantly they are moving better with and without the puck, they are taking not just more shots, but better shots.  They are opening up more ice for themselves. Then again, the Stars seem to really struggle against an aggressive PK and Predators mostly sat back and looked to block and clear rather than pressure and attack.

Dallas goal #3- Stars were on the PP and Fisher took a high-sticking penalty behind the Stars' net. Nilstorp skated off and Fiddler came on as an extra attacker. He came in unnoticed and unmarked so Benn made a little back pass, Fiddler skated in and absolutely ripped the puck into the corner above Rinne's left shoulder.

Dallas goal #4- The Stars made some good passes and movement on the PP, then Eriksson threw the puck at the net. The puck hit off of Josi's stick in front and fluttered in to Rinner's right.

This is hands down my favorite power play set up so far. It's unbelievably effective and dangerous. Ryder and Jagr's off-hand shot positioning, Eriksson down low, Benn in the slot and a defender (not necessarily Goligoski) at the point. Awesome stuff. 

Lots of offense- The Stars have now scored 3 or more goals in each of the last 10 games. Considering how the Stars began the season, and the expectations coming into this season, that’s pretty impressive. The fact that bottom 6 is contributing as much as they are is greatly helping. Being able to plug in guys like Garbutt, Roussel, Fraser and Smith and get production from them, as well as the veteran checkers like Fiddler and Nystrom, is fantastic. Now, if the Stars can just stop giving up so many goals, everything would be much better.

Dallas goal #3- 25 seconds after Fraser's goal, Ryder (far right) made a pass through three Predators to a position perfect for Smith (bottom left) to deflect it in and over Rinne.

The Bad:

Cristopher Nilstorp- Can’t really put this game’s goals on a lack of help. Fisher’s backhander in the 3^rd should’ve been stopped. Nilstorp continues to get beaten on screens. He seems to get scored on almost every time someone stands in front of him. You can say the Stars need to do better clearing the big forwards in front of him, but it’s not all on the defense. Especially these days where players can’t necessarily roughhouse the guys in front. The good goalies get better at looking around the screens and getting in position to stop the ones they don’t see and Nilstorp’s 6’4” 184 lb. self is physically capable. Nilstorp needs to develop that part of his game for success. Or else guys like Hornqvist, Franzen and any big-bodied forwards will provide screens for easy goals every game against him.

Nashville goal #2- Josi took a slap shot from the point (top center) and it made it through all the bodies in front and past Nilstorp's blocker.

Nashville goal #5- OT winner came on a slap shot from the top of the right circle. Again a body was in front of Nilstorp and again it was a shot that he should've stopped. 

Jamie Oleksiak- For the most part, Oleksiak was invisible this game. He threw some pucks at the net and didn’t make a habit of big defensive mistakes but I put him in this category simply for fisher’s goal early in the 3^rd. Fisher was his man entering the zone. Oleksiak didn’t get physical and eliminate fisher or at least force him to the boards. And he didn’t use his reach to poke the puck. Instead he allowed Fisher to squeeze between him and Goligoski for an open backhander (which Nilstorp should’ve had). And if you look back far enough, Morrow and another forward both pursued the puck and left Fisher open at center ice to get the puck and skate in. Just an all-around failed play on the Stars’ side.

Nashville goal #4- Morrow and another forward attacked one player. He got the pass off to Fisher near center ice so he collected the puck and skated to the blue line uncontested. Fisher then split Oleksiak and Goligoski and tucked in a backhander between Nilstorp's legs.

Penalties- Same story again here. Taking too many penalties and taking weird ones as well. The bright spot is that they’re not mostly mindless penalties taken in the offensive zone. And the Stars defense has been getting much better at not getting that annoying interference penalty as opponents enter the zone. The problem this game was the unsportsmanlike conduct penalties to Nystrom and Fiddler and the fact that they put the Stars in a position where they had to kill nearly 1:17 of 5-on-3 time… and Nashville eventually scored.

The Stars' top two penalty killing forwards and a third man in the box is a very unsettling image. 

Faceoffs- There is more to this than just the wins/losses on the dot. The Predators were missing their best faceoff man in Paul Gaustad and the Predators are not very strong even with Gaustad in. Still the stars won 26 out of 57 draws. I keep faceoffs in the good or bad columns because it is a very critical aspect of our team that the Stars made moves to get stronger at. With Benn, Roy, Eakin and Fiddler, the Stars should be stronger on the draw than they are. Sure losing Ott hurt, but they upgraded on Ribeiro’s faceoff skills so it’s got to get better throughout the season. Final numbers Benn won 5 of 15, Roy won 8 of 15, Eakin won 6 of 12 and Fiddler won 7 of 14.

Lines seen tonight:

Morrow-Benn-Jagr

Fraser-Roy-Eriksson

Smith-Eakin-Ryder

Nystrom-Fiddler-Garbutt

Dillon-Robidas

Benn- Daley

Goligoski-Oleksiak

PP- Eakin-Roy-Morrow-Benn-Smith

PP- Benn-Jagr-Eriksson-Ryder-Goligoski

PK- Fiddler-Nystrom-Dillon-Robidas

PK- Eakin-Garbutt-Benn-Daley

PK- Smith-Roy-Goligoski-Oleksiak (Eriksson’s regular spot but he was in the box)

PK- Eriksson-Roy-Benn-Daley

PK- Eakin-Dillon-Robidas (5-on-3)

Notable Notes:

• Nashville was the lowest scoring and lowest shooting team in league and the Stars managed to give up 5 goals and 31 shots to them.

Wanted to point out that yes it was a 5-on-3 but Dillon's overpursuit on this play pushed Robidas into a bad situation. Robidas laid down to cut off a pass or low shot (instead of attacking the puck or taking the body) and the bottom picture shows the scene immediately after.

Nashville goal #3- Hornqvist (left) sent a pass across to Smith (right) but the puck hit Dillon's stick (center) and it went in past Nilstorp.

Nashville goal #1- Kostitsyn had the puck in the right corner, he rang the puck around to Clune in the left corner. He immediately made a centering pass and Fiddler couldn't react fast enough to either stop the pass or take out the man in front. So the man in front (Smith, left) simply put the puck in the net.

Now this is what I call a back check and eliminating the garbage in front. 

Nashville threw a lot of bodies at the net and almost always kept a body in front of Nilstorp.

Not sure what's going on this year with Eriksson, but he's taking more penalties than usual. 

Morrow had a chance in the slot in the 2nd period but hit the post to the right of Rinne.

Morrow's shot ringing off the post.

Nystrom had a heck of a chance to tap in this pass from Fiddler, but it went just wide of the net. 

Nystrom fought Fiddler in the 2nd. nystrom took Yip to the ice, but I'd have to say i think Yip got the better punches in. (Getty Images)

Another fight was about to break out in the 2nd between Fiddler and Fisher but the refs broke it up. Fiddler and Fisher had a little scuffle in front of the net just a few seconds before, then Fiddler pushed Fisher in front of the net and the almost-fight ensued. 

Very scary moment when Robidas was hit directly into the corner of the opening on the Nashville bench. Luckily, he was not injured and was back on the ice for his next shift, but that could've been really ugly.

Weber spilled some blood thanks to a high stick. He complained that there should've been a penalty on the play but replays showed that his own teammate Erat's stick was the one that struck him, not Jagr's.

Fallen Prey. Dallas Stars Game 19: 5-4 OT Loss at the Nashville Predators

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Again the Dallas Stars had a big second period and headed into the third with a lead, but couldn’t hold on.

The Stars led 4-2 midway through the second period and headed into the third with a one goal lead, but the Nashville Predators rallied for a 5-4 overtime win Monday night.

Matt Fraser scored his first NHL goal and the Stars received additional scoring from Reilly Smith, Vernon Fiddler and Loui Eriksson, but Roman Josi’s blast from the top of the right circle 28 seconds into overtime gave the Predators the win and the very important two points in the standings.

Cristopher Nilstorp started in net again and stoped 26 of the 31 shots he faced. The one he would most likely want to have back was Mike Fisher’s goal 8:22 into the third period that tied the game at 4-4. Fisher received a pass near center ice and flew into the Stars’ zone. He skated between Jamie Oleksiak and Alex Goligoski and put in a soft backhander between Nilstorp’s legs.

Nashville opened the scoring the lone first period goal, but Dallas erupted early in the second period. Only 1:20 into the second period Loui Eriksson stood behind the Nashville net and sent a pass out front intended for Derek Roy. Roy fanned on the shot and the puck went past him but right to Fraser who skated in and slapped the puck past Pekka Rinne.

Twent-five seconds later Smith tipped in a pass from Michael Ryder across the slot and just like that the Stars took a 2-1 lead. One minute and twenty seconds later, Josi’s slap shot from the point found its way through a crowd in front of Nilstorp and tied the game for Nashville.

Fiddler’s goal came on a delayed penalty 7:29 into the second period. The Stars were on the power play already and when Fisher committed a high stick in the Stars zone, Nilstorp skated to the bench and Fiddler jumped on as the extra attacker. Jamie Benn was standing in the high slot and made a pass back to a streaking fiddler who ripped a slap shot in the corner above Rinne’s left shoulder.

The Stars’ second power play goal of the night came nearly two minutes later when Eriksson’s shot from the side boards hit off Josi’s stick in front and slipped past Rinne. Patric Hornqvist’s power play goal came with less than seven minutes left in the second period when his intended-pass hit off of Brenden Dillon’s stick and fluttered into the net.

The Stars have now scored three or more goals in 10 consecutive games, and they have scored two power play goals in their last two. They killed three of four penalties but had fewer shots (31-24), fewer hits (28-15), fewer faceoff wins (31-26), fewer blocked shots (20-10) and fewer takeaways (7-4).

The Stars look to get an elusive win in the second game of a back-to-back as they visit the Columbus Blue Jackets Tuesday night.