In those famous words once uttered by MLB Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra, “It’s déjà vu all over again.” Two nights after the Dallas Stars defeated the Anaheim Ducks by a 3-2 tally, Dallas again played the Ducks on March 31 and, once again, skated off with a 3-2 victory, albeit in overtime during this match.
Defensemen Andrej Sekera and Ryan Suter scored goals in regulation. Then Jamie Been netted the game-winner in overtime, pushing the Stars’ record to 36-25-3 in the season, 79 points total, good enough for second place in the wild card race in the West. The win also pushed Dallas’s OT record to 10-1.
“There’s going to be a lot of tight games,” Benn said at the post-game conference. “We’ve been in tight games all year. Our group’s been through a lot over the last couple years, added some great players to our roster. We’re comfortable in these tight games. Good teams find a way to win, and that’s what we are.”
Dallas Stars skated to a 1-0 lead with Suter’s third power-play goal of the season before a second-period goal from Anaheim’s Jamie Drysdale with 40 seconds left to play in the frame knotted the contest at 1-1.
The Stars took a 2-1 lead with less than five minutes remaining on Sekera’s first goal of the season. However, the Ducks answered less than a minute later when Kevin Shattenkirk changed a teammate’s shot, beating Stars goalkeeper Jake Oettinger and sending the game into overtime.
Benn iced the Penguins in the extra period with his seventeenth goal of the season coming with under a minute into overtime.
“I think that’s our style, playing those tight games,” Suter said. “You’re not going to go out and score a ton of goals in the playoffs. I think if we can find a way to keep winning and find a way to get in, these games are preparing us for that.”
In just his second year, Oettinger pushed his record to 24-11 on the year after stopping 21-of-23 shots, including 4-for-4 on the power play.
The Stars have two more road games (San Jose on Saturday and Seattle on Sunday) before coming home for a three-game homestand, starting with the New York Islanders on Tuesday, April 5. Dallas has just sixteen games left in the regular season, ten of which are in Dallas at the American Airlines Arena.