Stars shine bright at home defeating Detroit

Tyler Seguin #91, Jamie Benn #14, John Klingberg #3 and the Dallas Stars celebrate a goal against the Detroit Red Wings at the American Airlines Center on October 10, 2017 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Glenn James/NHLI via Getty Images)

The Dallas Stars made their stance at home well known to the Detroit Red Wings Tuesday night. A heavy strength on the offense through two periods and late in the third helped hold a 3-2 victory at American Airlines Center. It was their first at home this season wanting to win it with tremendous pressure on their opponents from start to finish.

Detroit continued their four game road trip after earning a second victory this season over the Ottawa Senators Saturday. Martin Frk contributed to their push to a shootout where they won their second and first on the road. With the next stop being Dallas, it meant quite a bit to longtime player Trevor Daley who spent 12 seasons with the team. While he would take in the feeling of being back in familiar territory, Petr Mrazek would start for the first time this season hoping to get on the right track.

He dealt with shots in front of him for quite some time while the Red Wings searched for their first. When they got it, the momentum was still in the Star’s hands keeping the pace alive. At 9:15, Dallas took the next step and scored the game’s first goal with John Klingberg firing the puck from the far end at center. It was the second for him this season making the troubles greater for Detroit.

A lot of time was falling from the clock leaving the Red Wings desperate with their attempts on Ben Bishop who came back from an injury Friday and stopped them with the fast glove. The lines were switching for Detroit in the hopes of creating an increase of pucks to the Dallas net. With 5:34, the Red Wings earned a chance to work hard and get deep with pucks on Bishop. They had four tries including a rifled attempt from Martin Frk but the Stars netminder in the butterfly position made the stop.

It was the ninth of ten that the Stars PK unit killed off that took a toll on the Red Wings confidence of tying the game in the period. Making matters worse, Dallas went on the power play due to a holding call to Nick Jensen. With half the time available, the Stars only needed 30 seconds as Tyler Seguin was setup for the pass from Klingberg shooting top shelf for his second as well. The late surge of shots allowed them to outshoot Detroit 11-6 showing fight for the puck that delivered a two goal lead.

After killing the remaining minute of the Star’s man advantage to start the second, Detroit started to create scoring chances. They caught a second try on the power play but took a penalty for interference. 4 on 4 took precedent but soon went back to Detroit’s advantage on a crosscheck from Seguin. With plenty of ice playing 4 on 3, the Red Wings needed a good set up and did it with Justin Abdelkader in position to receive the pass from captain Henrik Zetterberg getting Detroit on the board.

Full strength returned but the reality was that Dallas still had a heavy favor with the puck. Despite taking two shots through five minutes, the Stars found ways of getting something done without full possession. They had their eyes on a loose puck where Matthias Janmark got a chance in front of Mrazek for a 3-1 lead and his second.

Mrazek knew that he needed to keep a better eye on the puck and made a key save midway into the game. Though his team got another power play, their inability to convert on it left Bishop and the Stars pleased with their margin of victory that continued to stand. At the end of 40 minutes, they were well ahead 27-15 on shots to the net.

The third was the Red Wings wake up call to recover and close the deficit in the final twenty minutes. They showed more effort in their offensive play but the scoring chances were still minimal, leading to Dallas taking full advantage of it. They caught up with the Red Wings surge from the start of the period and didn’t let off. Detroit got desperate with the shots that at times went off the crossbar but not enough to change the score.

With under five minutes to play, the Red Wings got within a goal as Dylan Larkin initiated a play behind the net, trying to give his team a scoring chance. It came on a possession by Anthony Mantha who took an angled wrister on Bishop’s right getting the puck to the goaltender’s left putting Detroit down one with plenty of time on the clock. While they did everything to tie up the game, Dallas played tight defense against six men that the Red Wings put into action.

It was a long fight for them to reach the final horn but keeping the puck of out their reach and a near chance at getting an empty netter spelled trouble for the Red Wings. They iced the puck several times, went for another chance on the open net which came on their third try that was awarded to Martin Hanzal for his first. It was enough for Dallas to get their first win at home and a sentimental victory for coach Ken Hitchcock.

He moved into a tie on the all-time list of wins by a coach with 782 alongside the late Al Arbour who was a good friend of Hitchcock’s. While he voiced it not being the best thing in the world, Hitchcock was pleased with the full team potential through 60 minutes. Bishop ended the day with a full night on ice stopping 23 of 25 against the Red Wings for a .920 save percentage.

While most of his saves came from Detroit’s engaged youth they and the rest of the team would give it another go when they face the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday.