Those in attendance at Capital One Arena on Thursday night hoping to see Alex Ovechkin tie Gordy Howe for the second-most goals scored in NHL history have Stars goalie Jake Oettinger and his 45 saves to blame for not witnessing history.
Dallas snuck out of D.C. with two points in the standings following a tightly wound 2-1 win over the Capitals.
The first period saw Oettinger and Washington goalie Charlie Lindgren face and deny a combined 30 shots to keep the contest knotted at nothing.
Ovechkin was seeking his 801st career goal, looking to tie Howe, with Wayne Gretzky at the number one all-time spot with 894.
WHAT TO KNOW
Ovechkin would not end the loss without a point, however, and he and Dylan Strome each picked up assists on a Conor Sheary goal just over nine minutes into the second period. It was the first and last lead of the game for Washington, 1-0.
From that point until early in the final period, Jake Oettinger and Lindgren were perfect in net, with the Capitals clinging to a 1-0 lead.
Jamie Benn hammered in his 12th goal of the season past Lindgren 48 seconds into the third period to tie the game at 1-1. The Stars were on a power play when Benn rebounded a Roope Hintz shot slightly behind Washington’s goalie and in front of an open net.
Colin Miller scored what proved to be the game-winner for the Stars almost 90 seconds later. Ryan Suter hit Miller on the right wing near the blue line. Miller punched a wrist shot home to give the Stars a 2-1 lead.
BY THE NUMBERS
Hintz, Suter, Mason Marchment, and Joe Pavelski each earned an assist in the win. Hintz leads the Stars with 22.
Of Jamie Benn’s 28 points this season, 13 have come on power plays.
Dallas (18-8-5, 1st place in the WCD) snapped the Capitals’ five-game win streak and moved their record to 2-1-0 on their current five-game road trip.
Oskari Laaksonen, 23, a Finland native, became the first player the Stars traded for this season on Thursday. The team announced they had acquired the defenseman from the Sabres and shipped defenseman Joseph Cecconi to Buffalo in exchange.
WHO SAID
“Pete (DeBoer, head coach) came in and, you know, kind of got us going,” Jake Oettinger told ESPN. He added that the Star’s skipper said, “Just a couple of swear words, and just ‘let’s get going,’ and the boys responded.”
“Nobody wants to be part of history that way,” DeBoer said of Ovechkin’s goal pursuit against his team. “And you know for sure Jake doesn’t want to be that guy on the highlight reel 50 years from now being scored on in that situation. So, I think it was a little bit of motivation for us, for sure, to try and shut him down, and he’s an unbelievable player. I got tremendous respect for him.”
NEXT UP
The Stars will face the Hurricanes on Saturday, December 17, at PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina. The puck drops at 4 p.m. The Stars will have either Oettinger (11-4-3) in the net on two days’ rest or Scott Wedgewood (6-4-2), who defeated the New Jersey Devils 4-1 on Tuesday.
