Following two straight losses, the Dallas Stars were able to get back into the win column with a 2-1 shootout victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday, October 19th.
With the win, the Stars improved to 2-2-0 and stayed in third place in the Central Division. The Penguins fell to 2-0-2 but maintained first place in the Metropolitan Division.
This season, Dallas’ wins have both come in games that went past regulation; their first win, previously reported by the Dallas Express, was an overtime victory at the Rangers on opening night.
On October 19th, the Stars would score first, as left-wing Michael Raffl shot past Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry off a pass from center Radek Faksa with ten seconds left in the first period.
With 14:34 left in the second period, Pittsburgh defenseman John Marino rebounded a missed shot from left-wing Brock McGinn and shot past Stars goalie Braden Holtby to tie the game at one. Both the third period and overtime failed to break the tie, leading to the first shootout of the season for either team.
Holtby saved the first two shootout attempts from left-wing Jake Guentzel and defenseman Kris Letang. Jarry blocked the first shot from Faksa, but center Joe Pavelski fired the second shot past him to put Dallas up one. Center Jeff Carter stumped Holtby on Pittsburgh’s last shot to tie it, but right-wing Alexander Radulov snuck the game-winner past Jarry to win the shootout.
Both Holtby and Jarry played the entire game, Holtby saving 27 of 28 shots and Jarry saving 28 of 29, both stats excluding the shootout. Faksa and defenseman Miro Heiskanen were credited with assists for the Stars. McGinn and defenseman Marcus Pettersson assisted Marino’s goal in the second period.
Stars head coach Rick Bowness was very pleased with Holtby’s performance in the net. “He’s doing what the job description says. Stop the puck, and I don’t care how it looks,” Bowness said in the post-game press conference.
After four road games, the Stars will welcome the Los Angeles Kings on Friday, October 22nd, for their home opener at 7:30 pm CST. Viewers can watch the game on ESPN+ and Hulu.
