The Dallas Stars wrapped up a 10-day run in which they played six games with a 6-3 win over the Detroit Red Wings on home ice on Monday night, grabbing some momentum as they enter a short break.
The six-goal outburst was much needed after finding the back of the net just once in Saturday’s loss to Vegas, and a great way to end the long stretch.
“It was a good game,” head coach Pete DeBoer told the media postgame. “I was a little worried. It was six [games] in 10 nights, so I was a little worried about our energy levels, but we showed up and had good energy, good contributions from everybody and some big saves from Jake [Oettinger] at the right time.”
Dallas fell behind 1-0 as Detroit’s Daniel Sprong opened the scoring just 5:20 into the game. However, Dallas scored two goals in the final 6:25 of the first period, including a timely wrist shot from defenseman Esa Lindell to seize momentum as time expired.
“It’s a big turning point,” forward Jason Robertson said of Lindell’s goal. “The biggest momentum shifts are goals in the first minute and the last minute of periods, so that was a big one going into the second, and we built on that from there.”
The Stars opened up a 4-1 lead from there, and Detroit cut the deficit to one goal late in the third period. Yet, veteran Joe Pavelski came up with a big power-play goal to put the game out of reach as the Stars followed with an empty-net goal in the final minute.
Dallas has now won 11 straight home games against Detroit, its longest current streak against any team, surpassing the 10-game winning streak over the Anaheim Ducks.
The Stars (16-8-3) now have three days without a game before returning to the ice at the American Airlines Center at 7 p.m. CT on Friday against the Ottawa Senators (11-11-0).