Games Played: 13

Wins: 6

Losses: 5

Overtime Losses: 0

Goals Against Average: 3.25

Save Percentage: .885

Minutes: 605

Richard Bachman certainly had an off year by his standards. Since his arrival in Dallas in December 2011 when he stole the show and forced the Stars to get rid of Andrew Raycroft. With the lockout this season, Bachman was one of the Stars that didn’t play overseas or in other minor leagues of hockey, and certainly that was the cause of his slow start. In a shortened 48 game season, Bachman certainly wasn’t going to see much playing time as the Stars plan certainly was to ride or die with Kari Lehtonen, but Bachman is a servicable back up who in short stretches looks like any teams number one.

Bachman’s first two starts certainly didn’t go well as they were both losses, including a game where he gave up six goals against the Calgary Flames. Bachman’s ability to step up big when needed came in his first victory of the season against the Vancouver Canucks. Kari Lehtonene left the game with a lower body injury, and Bachman came in and helped led the Stars to a comeback victory over the Canucks.

Bachman’s ability to be great in short stretches as a number one goaltender was on display in late March, early April when Kari Lehtonen was once again out due to injury Richard Bachman became the everyday for a span of almost two weeks and winning four straight decisions, including an impressive shutout of the Los Angeles Kings, and a performance against the San Jose Sharks where Bachman only allowed one goal in a victory. Bachman stepped his game up late in the season to help keep the Stars playoff hopes alive, even though it didn’t come to fruition.

Bachman turns 26 in July is set to become a Restricted Free Agent this offseason, it would be shocking to see Bachman return as the Stars backup once again next season, with Jack Campbell still developing in the AHL, and questions surrounding whether Cristopher Nilstorp will return next season, the Stars have control of what to do with Bachman. General Manager Jim Nill should have an easy time re-negotiating a deal with the young goaltender.

The first roster move for new Dallas Stars’ General Manager Jim Nill has came to fruition as on June 7th, the Dallas Stars announced that they had acquired the negotiating rights of Sergei Gonchar from the Ottawa Senators for a conditional sixth round draft pick. The condition being that if Gonchar, who was set to become an unrestricted free agent when free agency begins July 5th, and the Stars do not reach a deal, then the Stars do not lose the draft pick. It didn’t take Gonchar or the Stars long though to reach a deal as it was announced on June 8th, that the Stars had signed Gonchar to a two-year ten million dollar contract.

Gonchar, who turned 39 in April, will be entering his 20th season of professional hockey joining his fifth NHL club, previously playing for the Washington Capitals, Boston Bruins, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Ottawa Senators. Gonchar is a native of Chelyabinsk, Russia and was drafted 14th overall by the Washington Capitals in the 1992 NHL entry draft and has made his career as a highly productive point producing offensive defenseman. Gonchar made his NHL debut in the lockout shortened 1994-1995 season where in 31 games for the Capitals Gonchar registered 7 points (2g, 5a). The following season he registered 41 points (15g, 26a) and began living up to his potential as an offensive defenseman. Gonchar played nine full seasons for the Capitals and had incredible numbers for Washington including: two twenty goal seasons, four 50 point seasons, and one of the fifty point seasons being a 67 point season in 2002-2003.

In his tenth NHL season Gonchar was traded from the Washington Capitals to the Boston Bruins at the 2004 trade deadline to help the Bruins in their playoff run, the Bruins were eliminated in the first round of the 2004 playoffs. The 2004-2005 season saw another lockout for the NHL and Gonchar returned to his native Russia to play in the KHL. As the NHL came back in 2005-2006 Gonchar had signed a five year 25 million dollar contract to join the Pittsburgh Penguins, and their new up and coming Stars, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Gonchar registered fifty points in all but one of his seasons with the Penguins, due to injury, and registered two sixty point seasons. In the 2008-2009 regular season Gonchar missed most of the season due to injury, but when he returned he helped lead the Penguins to the 2009 Stanley Cup playoffs, with the Penguins winning the Cup that year.

Gonchar would spend one more season in Pittsburgh, before moving on to the Ottawa Senators signing a three year deal. The Senators have made the playoffs the past two seasons, but Gonchar has definitely slowed down a bit with age. Gonchar could have waited until July to become a free agent but when asked to waive his no trade clause and have his negotiating rights dealt to the Stars, Gonchar saw more than just ten million dollars he would make over the next two years. Gonchar told Mark Stepneski of DallasStars.com in a recent interview, “I am very excited because I know they are going to be doing everything to make sure the team is going to be turned around and move forward to be better next year, I feel like the organization is going to improve over the summer, and I am really excited to be part of it.” Gonchar also spoke of what he is looking for playing with the Stars, “My priority at this stage of my career is to really have a chance to win every night, you want to be on a team that is competing every night, trying to win every night and has a chance to make the playoffs and go far in the playoffs and win a Cup. I just don’t want to sign and be somewhere where you make your money and you’re happy. The most important reason I signed with Dallas is because after I talked to them, I found out they are going to sign more players, they are going to improve the team and they are going to do whatever it takes to make that next step. That’s what made me sign with them.”

Gonchar joins the Stars as the active leader in points by defensemen, and just this season passed former Stars defenseman Sergei Zubov as the all time leader in points scored by a Russian born defenseman. The Stars look to continue the new plan under General Manager Jim Nill and as the draft approaches and the search for a new head coach soon to be coming to a close, the next big assignment for the Stars is the roster now including Sergei Gonchar.

Games Played:  6

Goals:  2

Assists: 0

Plus/Minus: Even

Pentalies in Minutes: 9

Age: 23

Contract Status: RFA

Lane MacDermid was acquired by the Stars from the Boston Bruins along with Cody Payne, and a conditional 2nd round draft pick in exchange for Jaromir Jagr. When MacDermid was acquired the scouting report on him was pretty simple, in that he would be a big body for the fourth line who can play a great physical game and is very capable of dropping the gloves and defending a teammate. The Dallas Stars had gone with a particularly smaller lineup this season, and did not have a resident tough guy and hadn’t had one since the trade of Krys Barch in 2011.

MacDermid made his Dallas Stars debut on April 3rd against the Anaheim Ducks. MacDermid only played a short amount of time in the game, but made a huge impact in the third period when he scored his first career NHL goal on his first shot as a Dallas Star. MacDermid would then follow up with another goal in his second game as a member of the Dallas Stars in his second game also against Anaheim on April 5th.

In the second game against Anaheim, MacDermid suffered an upper body injury that would require some time on the injured reserve. MacDermid made his return to the Dallas Stars lineup on April 21st against the Los Angeles Kings, and played the final four games of the regular season. In the final four games MacDermid did not register a goal or assist, but did have an impressive fight against veteran tough guy Jared Boll.

To review MacDermid we should break up his six games into two parts. In his first two games that was not really what you will see from MacDermid each game, but in his final four games that will probably be the Lane MacDermid that Stars fans should be used to seeing, a big fourth line body, who has some hockey skill and is capable of fighting. MacDermid will be a Restricted Free Agent this offseason and will be looking for a new contract and it is up to new General Manager Jim Nill, to determine if the young winger has a spot in Dallas’ future plans.

Entering last night’s game with Columbus, the Stars still had a shot at the playoffs, but it was a long shot. Before the Stars even took the ice versus the Blue Jackets, a game that had super importance to the Stars was underway at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit as the Red Wings were matched up against the Nashville Predators. The Stars needed the Predators to defeat the Red Wings in regulation to keep Dallas’ playoff hopes alive.

SCENARIOS

If Nashville were able to defeat Detroit in regulation, and if the Stars were to defeat Columbus in regulation or overtime/shootout then it would have set up an extremely exciting Saturday in the NHL as there would be two games going determining 8th place in the western conference:

Dallas vs Detroit

Had the Stars won last night this game would be for eighth place in the West.

Nashville vs Columbus

The Stars would have needed the Predators to defeat the Blue Jackets in regulation for the Stars to have the scenario of facing Detroit for eighth place in the West.

OUTCOMES

Long before Dallas defeat against the Blue Jackets last night Detroit ran over Nashville 5-2 completely killing the Stars playoff hopes before the Stars lost to the Blue Jackets.

What’s Next

The Stars still have one game left on the season which is Saturday against the Detroit Red Wings. Detroit needs a victory over the Stars or a lot of help from the Nashville Predators, Edmonton Oilers, and Colorado Avalanche to keep their playoff streak alive.

For the Stars this marks the fifth straight season in which they have missed the playoffs. The Stars stood resilient through the trade deadline until now when it was believed that they were raising the white flag on the season when they traded Jaromir Jagr and Derek Roy. Depending on how Friday and Saturday play out for the Stars, their draft position could be anywhere from 9-12, and with all non-playoff teams eligible for the lottery pick the Stars have a small percent chance of becoming the team with the first overall pick. Full season review will be over the weekend when the regular season is over.

The Dallas Stars came into this game against the Columbus Blue Jackets looking to gain the two points and have hope for their post season. But with Detroit topping the Nashville Predators with a 5-2 win, the game against the Blue Jackets would no longer matter. The Stars will now close out the regular season against the Detroit Red Wings and look to use their off-season to not only get stronger but find a few new pieces to the puzzle that they hope will make a contending play-off team in the 2013-2014 season.

First Period:

It would only take 19 seconds for Columbus to get on the board with a shot from Cam Atkinson, assisted by Blake Comeau and Brandon Dubinsky. Soon after at 6:54 Eric Nystrom would drop the gloves with defencemen Dalton Sprout with Nystrom clearly landing the better of punches. Both would sit for the next five as their respective teams battled to stay alive. At the end of the first the Stars would be outshot 12-10.

Second Period:

With the Stars future still up in the air the team would come back to play their hardest like every night. They would tie the game on a power play goal from Jamie Benn, with the assists going to Eric Cole and Ray Whitney at 8:43 in the period. This time the period would end with the stars out shooting the Blue Jackets 15-10 for a two period total of 25-22.

Third Period:

It would be during the second intermission that Stars coaching staff would learn of Detroits win. But the team come back for the third ready to do what it takes and keep on fighting, but Columbus would take the lead with two power play goals. The first at 7:56 in the period with Stephane Robidas in the box for inference, from Mark Letestu and Brandon Dubinsky. And again late in the period with Eric Nystrom in the box for interference, the Blue Jackets would take a 3-1 lead at 18:20 with Cam Atkinson scoring his second of the night from Jack Johnson and Dalton Prout.

Notes:

- Head coach Glen Gulutzan said in the press conference that coaching staff knew of Detroits win after the second.

- He also said that players were not told, and locker room TVs were all off, but seems to think a majority of them had found out from other media outlets.

- Aaron Rome was out of the line up as he has  been battling a hip issue that will require surgery to repair.

Since the Trade Deadline on April 3rd no team has been hotter or had hotter players than the Dallas Stars. Dallas has won five straight games since the trade deadline and fought back right into the playoff races of the western conference since being in 13th on trade deadline day April 3rd. The Stars latest charge has been led by a new group of leadership. Alex Chiasson has come up from the minors and been a force on the Stars scoring six goals in six games and riding a five game point streak entering Monday’s game, Vernon Fiddler led the lead in points since April 3rd with ten (2g, 8a), and Richard Bachman has stepped up since his early season struggles to win every game he has started since Kari Lehtonen’s latest absence due to injury. Dallas is fighting to keep it’s playoff hopes alive and Monday had to face the best team in the NHL which would be a big test for this new look Stars team. The Stars were needing a win to move back into the top eight with Detroit reclaiming the eight seed over the weekend, Dallas stayed resilient through out the game, but Chicago is the best in the NHL for a reason and they showed it tonight.

First Period

Keys to Dallas’ latest win streak has been their ability to get off to fast starts, and in this game that didn’t happen as Chicago got the first step on Dallas. Dallas was unable to help it’s own cause with penalty trouble as the Stars took two first period minors. The Blackhawks kept the puck in the Dallas zone for most of the period and Richard Bachman was peppered with 13 first period shots. Chicago goaltender Ray Emery barely got tested in the first only facing four shots on net. A big blow to Dallas offense also came in the opening period as Alex Chiasson left the game with a shoulder injury. The Blackhawks struck first at the 12:54 mark of the first period as Jonathan Toews tipped in a Marian Hossa shot for his 21st goal of the season. The Blackhawks dominated the first period, but the goal deficit was only one as Chicago ended the first ahead 1-0

Second Period

Dallas continued to hang on, but turnovers were costly for the Stars tonight. Chicago pushed their lead to 2-0 when Viktor Stalberg scored his ninth goal of the season at the 12:14 mark of the period. Dallas was able to cut the lead in half quick at the 14:12 mark Jamie Benn finally broke through Ray Emery with a wrist shot for his ninth goal of the season. Dallas kept the shots a bit more even this period only being outshot 9-7, and the deficit still at one goal as Chicago led 2-1 after two periods.

Third Period

It didn’t take long for Dallas to tie this game as Jamie Benn put the team on his shoulders tonight. Benn scored his second of the game and tenth of the season at the 3:07 mark of the period. After the game was tied Chicago took their game to another level and struck the Stars quick, Andrew Shaw scored his ninth goal of the season just 84 seconds after Benn had tied the game, and Niklas Hjalmarsson restored Chicago’s two goal lead a few minutes later. Marian Hossa added an empty netter at the end of the period to give Chicago their 5-2 victory in their season sweep of the Dallas Stars.

Game Extras

• Dallas went 0-2-1 this season against Chicago, and they get more of them next season as these two will be division rivals.
• Richard Bachman was definitely not the blame this game as he played expectionally well, but Chicago just outplayed Dallas.
• All three streaks for the Stars came to an end this game: Chiasson and Fiddler’s point streaks and Richard Bachman’s winning decision streak.
• The amazing season of Ray Emery continues as he is now 16-1-0 with a Goals Against Average of 1.91 and a save percentage of .923%
• Jamie Benn stepped up tonight, and the Stars are gonna need more of that from him and the other top players in the remaining six games.
• Playoff Update: Dallas’ loss tonight knocks them down to tenth place as Columbus took over ninth place. A good win streak for the Stars could push them as high as sixth.
• Three Stars of the Game chosen by the Chicago Media: 1. Andrew Shaw 2. Marian Hossa 3. Jamie Benn
• Dallas has two games off before they take on the Vancouver Canucks Thursday in Dallas, puck drops at 7:30

It has been happy times in the Stars organization since the trade deadline as it seems all was lost for the Stars for the rest of this season, but a new light has begun to shine in Dallas. The emergence of Alex Chiasson as a force in the NHL, and other veteran players taking a charge in the leadership of this group when it seemed as if that all had been gone with the trade deadline. Dallas faced San Jose tonight in a rematch from last Sunday when the Stars made a heroic comeback to defeat the Sharks in a shootout. A Stars victory tonight would give Dallas enough points and an advantage in the tiebreaker to push them above Detroit for the eight spot in the western conference standings.

First Period

A big key in Dallas’ win streak as of late is the ability to get leads early in periods and the same occured tonight as just under two minutes into the game the Stars were playing with a lead when Eric Nystrom finished off a two on one offensive rush beating Antii Niemi for his seventh goal of the season. San Jose played the next few minutes in penalty trouble and it eventually cost them as a interference penalty on Raffi Torres gave the Stars a powerplay which they cashed in on. Alex Chiasson scored his sixth goal of the season in his sixth game. Dallas got the jump on San Jose in the first and kept a 2-0 lead through the first period.

Second Period

San Jose looked to come back this period and took control of the offensive zone time. The Stars defense stood pat and Richard Bachman made saves on all seven San Jose shots in the period keeping the game 2-0 Stars after two periods.

Third Period

San Jose continued their torrid pace to tie the game. An early period tripping penalty by Alex Goligoski gave San Jose a prime opportunity to come back. This penalty cost the Stars this time as Brent Burns scored his seventh of the season. San Jose controlled the puck for a majority of the period outshooting Dallas 13-5 in the period, but the Stars defense and goaltender Richard Bachman were able to hang on and defeat the San Jose Sharks 2-1 in regulation.

Game Extras

• Congratulations to Derian Hatcher who was named as a member of the Dallas Stars 20th Anniversary Team
• Playoff Watch: With the regulation victory the Stars now move into eighth place over Detroit.
• Streaks: The impressive streaks of Alex Chiasson, Vernon Fiddler, and Richard Bachman continue. Five game scoring streak for Chiasson, six game scoring streak for Fiddler, and five straight decisions ending in victory for Richard Bachman.
• San Jose fired 83 shots tonight: 32 were shots on goal, 30 were blocked by the Stars and 21 missed the net.
• Since the trade deadline, Alex Chiasson is second to Alex Ovechkin in goals with six, Ovechkin has seven.
• Attendance for tonight’s game: 18,007
• Three Stars of the Game Chosen by Bob Sturm of KTCK 1310 The Ticket: 1. Richard Bachman 2. Eric Nystrom 3. Joe Pavelski
• The Stars have a tough test Monday when they attempt to push their winning streak to six games as the best in the west, Chicago Blackhawks will host the Stars in Chicago. Puck drops at 7:00 pm.

It’s been impressive what the Stars have been able to accomplish in the past week since the trade deadline, in the past three games the Stars are 3-0-0 scoring twelve goals in the streak. New leaders have arrived as well as players like Vernon Fiddler, Eric Nystrom and Alex Chiasson have thrived in bigger minutes and bigger roles for the team. Tonight the Stars face off against the injury-plagued Nashville Predators. Nashville missing key players like Paul Gaustad and Gabriel Bourque from it’s lineup tonight. Dallas also missing Kari Lehtonen will rely on Richard Bachman until Kari is back from his lower body injury. Dallas jumped on the Predators early in the game and never took their foot off the gas in this game as Nashville was simply no match for the Stars tonight.

First Period

It was clear from the beginning that Dallas was going to take advantage of the inexperience of the Nashville lineup which they did holding Nashville without a shot in the first ten minutes of the period. Nashville did out shoot Dallas 6-5 in the period, but Dallas made their shots count as Dallas scored two goals within a short amount of time at the 6:04 mark of the period when a hardworking shift by Nystrom-Fiddler-Cole resulted in a goal as Eric Cole fired a slapshot past Nashville goaltender Chris Mason for his fifth goal as a Star and eighth of the season. Shortly after at the 8:40 mark of the period, while on the powerplay Dallas cashed in when Ray Whitney was set up for a one timer on the left face-off dot by Alex Goligoski for his tenth goal of the season. After Dallas obtained the two goal lead Nashville looked for ways to get themselves back into the game and got some momentum when Rich Clune who spent the entire first period looking for a fight and finally got one towards the end of the first period when Antoine Roussel answered Clune’s challenge. Before the end of the period Nashville cut Dallas’ lead to one goal as Taylor Beck scored his third goal of the season at the 18:42 mark of the period making the game 2-1 after the first.

Second Period

Dallas struck quickly to regain their two goal lead as the fourth line got on the score sheet when Tom Wandell finished a play created by Ryan Garbutt and Antoine Roussel for his first NHL goal in over a year. Nashville tried to answer throughout the period, but Richard Bachman held the Predators scoreless in the second stopping all nine Nashville shots. Dallas created a deeper hole for Nashville at the 11:12 mark of the period when Alex Chiasson scored his fourth goal of the season. Dallas ended the period with a big penalty kill and took a 4-1 lead into the second intermission.

Third Period

The period was mostly a mop up one for the Stars as they were just playing the last twenty minutes. At the 7:03 mark of the period Alex Chiasson scored his second goal of the game and fifth of the season giving Dallas a 5-1 lead. Nashville had a small attempt at a comeback at the 12:12 mark of the period when Bobby Butler scored his second goal of the season, but the comeback was soon put away when Sergei Kostitsyn got a boarding major at the 16:31 mark of the period putting the game away and giving Dallas a 5-2 victory for their fourth victory in a row.

Game Extras

• Richard Bachman won his fourth straight decision and five of his last six
• Vernon Fiddler earned two assist tonight, pushing him to a five game point streak. Fiddler has fifteen points on the season (3g, 12a) and eight of those points have come during the streak.
• Playoff  Update: With the break, Dallas was three points behind eighth place Detroit in the west. With the win tonight Dallas is only 1 point behind Detroit with eight games remaining.
• Alex Chiasson didn’t register a point in his first NHL game, but has in his last four including all five goals.
• Three Stars of the Game Chosen by Nashville Media: 1. Alex Chiasson 2. Ray Whitney 3. Vernon Fiddler
• The Stars return home to face the Sharks tomorrow, puck drops at 7:00 pm

Riding the momentum of an epic win Sunday against San Jose, the Stars needed any kind of spark in their game tonight against the defending Stanley Cup champions, the Los Angeles Kings. The Kings are 8-1-1 in their last ten games against the Stars in the American Airlines Center, and with players like Justin Williams and Jeff Carter playing really hot right now and Jonathan Quick looking like the MVP he was last season, the Stars certainly looked to have their hands full tonight, but as the young players have stepped up the past few games tonight the veterans took charge and lead the Stars to a 5-1 victory over Los Angeles.

First Period

It didn’t take long and the Stars were already on the penalty kill as Loui Eriksson took a double minor for high sticking only 34 seconds into the game. Los Angeles didn’t take long on converting the first powerplay into a goal as Drew Doughty scored his fourth of the season. Dallas killed off the second opportunity and began to grind their way back into this game with physical play. Dallas dominated the last ten minutes of the period and were able to draw the Los Angeles Kings into two penalties they didn’t score on the first one, but six seconds after it expired Alex Goligoski scored his second goal of the season on a slapshot from the point tying the game at one. At the 14:18 mark of the period the game went into a tv timeout and during the break, Stars goaltender Kari Lehtonen had skated off the ice and went down the Stars’ tunnel with the teams medical staff and Richard Bachman had entered the game. Bachman had a combined 34 1/2 minutes played in his previous two games and hadn’t had a start since February 26th. Dallas made it the rest of the period allowing three shots on Bachman in the final five minutes of the period. The Kings and Stars were tied at one after one period.

Second Period

No goals were scored in the second, but none the less this period was one of the best the Stars played all season. The Stars penalty kill was really put to the test this period as an Aaron Rome double-minor for high sticking put the Stars in a corner, but a round of applause to Richard Bachman, Eric Nystrom, Vernon Fiddler, Alex Goligoski, Stephane Robidas, Trevor Daley, Brenden Dillon, Cody Eakin, and Eric Cole as they kept the Stars in the game and gave them a big momentum push killing off two penalties in the second period and not really allowing a premium scoring chance for the Kings. Dallas faced 17 LA shots in the period and eight on the powerplay, but they stood strong and kept the game tied at one going into the third period.

Third Period

The Stars opening rush into the offensive zone paid off greatly as Alex Chiasson set up Ray Whitney for his eighth goal of the season just 52 seconds into the period. This seemed to have a domino effect on the Kings as Dallas scored three additional goals this period, including another one by Ray Whitney and two by Vernon Fiddler. Dallas dominated Los Angeles in the third period and shut them down to just five shots giving Richard Bachman 22 saves on 22 shots as the Stars defeated the Los Angeles Kings 5-1.

Game Extras

• Congratulations to Ed Belfour who was named as a member of the 20th Anniversary Team
• Kari Lehtonen left tonight’s game with a “Lower Body Injury” and will be re-evaluated Wednesday.
• PLAYOFF WATCH: With tonight’s win Dallas leapfrogs over Columbus to ninth place in the west and only two points behind eighth place Detroit, and nine games remaining this season and the regular season finale will be against Detroit this year.
• Stephane Robidas and Trevor Daley both ended tonights game a +4 on the scoresheet. The +4 brings Daley and Robidas to an even 0 on the season.
• With tonight’s win Richard Bachman has won his last three decisions in a row including the game against the Minnesota Wild where he played a full 2:32 to pick up the win.
• Kings’ player names you heard a lot of tonight: Regehr, Richards, and Quick. Names you didn’t hear a lot of: Kopitar, Carter, Williams
• Official Attendance for tonight’s game: 16,367
• Three Stars of the Game chosen by John Tranchina of the Associated Press: 1. Ray Whitney 2. Vernon Fiddler 3. Stephane Robidas
• Keep Dallas Pesky honorable mention to Richard Bachman as he made 22 saves on 22 King shots in relief of Kari Lehtonen tonight.
• The Stars have a couple of days off before they travel to Music City to finish their season series against the Nashville Predators Friday, puck drops at 7:00 pm

Things have not been going well for the Stars lately, the are in the middle of a three game losing streak and have lost four of the last five scoring only 12 goals as a team in that span. Tonight they finished their season series against Pacific Division leading Anaheim tonight. Tonight was the third game in a row between the two teams with Anaheim taking the first two in a convincing fashion. Tonight however Anaheim was different as their captain Ryan Getzlaf would miss tonight’s game after an akward fall he took in Wednesday night’s game. The Ducks certainly missed their captain who had five points in the first two games against the Stars this week as Dallas ends their losing streak in a convincing fashion.

First Period

The game started off similar to the previous two against the Ducks as the Stars had problems clearing the puck from their own zone and were creating many turnovers in the period. Kari Lehtonen was sharp in erasing Dallas’ mistakes in the opening half of the period. A play out of nowhere gave Dallas their first goal of the game at the 9:03 mark of the period when Lane MacDermid scored his second goal as a Star as he and Antoine Roussel crashed the Anaheim net and MacDermid finished the play with a nice backhand shot. Dallas didn’t keep their lead for long as 18 seconds later, Andrew Cogliano got a tip-in goal after a puck took an odd bounce around Kari Lehtonen and that quick the game was tied at one. The game picked up physically as these teams looked like they had played the past two games against each other, eventually producing a fight against Antoine Roussel and Emerson Etem. At the same time of the fight, Lane MacDermid was called for a high sticking penalty. On the ensuing powerplay it only took thirteen seconds for a goal to be scored, but it was Dallas scoring the goal as Eric Nystrom hustled down a cleared puck beating Anaheim goaltender Viktor Fasth to the puck and having an open net to shoot at giving Dallas a 2-1 lead. The game got more intense as the period moved along, Anaheim became frustrated with Dallas and started to take penalties because of it all the time in the offensive zone eventually paid off for the Stars as the newest Stars rookie Alex Chiasson scored his first of his NHL career tipping in a Vernon Fiddler pass. Dallas dominated the final ten minutes of the first period and helped themselves to a 3-1 first period lead.

Second Period

Dallas looked to keep their tendencies for bad second periods behind them this game as this was needed, because Anaheim is one of the best second period teams in the league. Dallas caught breaks early in the period as a double minor was called on Anaheim’s Matt Belesky. Dallas didn’t score on the powerplay opportunity, but they kept Anaheim pinned in their own zone for the majority of the time. Anaheim used the momentum of the penalty kill to counter attack in the Dallas zone. Two powerplay opportunities for the Ducks in the last ten minutes of the period pushed the Anaheim attack, but the Stars penalty kill and Kari Lehtonen completely buckled down and allowed nothing. The Stars were out shot 9-6 in the period, but kept their 3-1 lead intact.

Third Period

Dallas looked to protect the lead and play strong defensive hockey in the final period, Anaheim tried to create offensive chances, but the Stars defense stopped all their attempts and Kari Lehtonen saved all shot attempts. Late period penalties put the nails on the coffin of the Ducks comeback attempt as Dallas was able to win in Anaheim 3-1.

Game Extras

• Congratulations to Alex Chiasson who scored his first career NHL goal tonight.
• Get well soon to Lane MacDermid who left early in the first period with a “upper body injury”
• Well Dallas went 2-2-1 against the Pacific Division leading Anaheim Ducks this season.
• Corey Perry and Bobby Ryan were not as effective tonight with Ryan Getzlaf out of the lineup.
• First time since March 23rd that Dallas has allowed 2 or fewer goals.
• Three Stars of the game: 1. Kari Lehtonen 2. Corey Perry 3. Stephane Robidas
• The Stars continue their string of games against the Pacific Division as San Jose is the next stop for the Stars, Puck drops at 3:00 pm.