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Ryan Garbutt got things started on Friday night
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The
Dallas Stars were in a pretty tough spot at the time of my last post. There was still no doubt in any of our minds
that this team COULD make the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but whether it WOULD or not
was very much up in the air. With 79
points, Dallas trailed Phoenix by three points for 8th place and was just a
point up on the hard-charging Vancouver Canucks. I analyzed the remaining schedules of the
four teams at the heart of the race (MIN, PHX, DAL, VAN) and decided that the
Stars had one of the more favorable schedules to finish the campaign based on
strength of the opposition. Minnesota
was about to enter a brutal stretch of games that they would be hard-pressed to
gain anything from, but Phoenix was fresh off a fantastic run of games out East. Simply put, it would all mean absolutely nothing if the Stars didn't take care of business
on their end. They simply had to win on
Friday night against Nashville.
And win they did…
The
men in green were up against a Predators team that had pounded Buffalo 6-1 the
night before. Dallas coach Lindy Ruff
had mentioned several names on his lower forward lines that he would have liked
to see start producing again (Chiasson, Nichushkin, Eakin among them) and those
men certainly answered his call. They
came out firing, eager to get the first goal, which almost always means the
difference between winning and losing when playing Nashville. Just past eight minutes in, Antoine Roussel
wheeled out of the corner and threw a laser of a pass across the slot to a
waiting Ryan Garbutt, who had an easy backdoor tap-in past Pekka Rinne. Finally, some depth scoring appeared to be in
the cards. Dallas followed with another
six minutes later when Colton Sceviour brought it in off the rush and whipped
one across the slot to Vernon Fiddler, who beat Rinne on a one-timer. The boys had to feel good about themselves
taking a 2-0 lead to the locker room after one.
The
second period began with a thud as Nashville’s Patric Hornqvist surprised Kari
Lehtonen with a turn-around wrister from the high slot. This one stung a little extra, as Hornqvist
has quickly become one of the most hated opposing players for Dallas with his
aggressive play around the crease. However,
the Stars brought their ability to counter-punch on Friday, and Colton Sceviour
deflected a Trevor Daley slap shot past Rinne for a 3-1 lead less than three
minutes later. Dallas found the net
again on the power play at 8:58 of the second as Alex Chiasson tipped one
through the five-hole for a three-goal cushion.
But Nashville wouldn’t give up, as Michael Del Zotto took advantage of a
screened Lehtonen to bring the game within 4-2.
It wouldn’t last though, as the Green Machine would take a 5-2 lead to
the break courtesy of Trevor Daley, who drove the net and stuffed one home at
11:19 of the second.
The
third period began the same as the second, with a thud, as the former Star Eric
Nystrom brought the Preds within two yet again after he collected a loose puck
at the left circle and sniped one past Lehtonen. We the fans seemed to collectively doubt our
team’s will to hang on to the lead as Nashville turned up the pressure and it
became clear that Lehtonen was not benefitting from the limited action he had
seen during the first two frames. Such
fears were left unwarranted, however, as Valeri Nichushkin added his name to
the scoresheet as he wristed one off the stick of Shea Weber and past Rinne for
a 6-3 advantage with 12:21 to play. Nashville
then failed to get their heads back in the game as the Stars won the draw at
center ice and charged in on the rush. The puck found its way to Garbutt, who
made a quick centering feed to Cody Eakin, who tipped it just under the
crossbar exactly 11 seconds after Nichushkin’s goal to make it a 7-3 game. The Preds got more sustained pressure in the
third, and it seemed to benefit Kari, as he made some of his best saves in the
waning minutes. It was a thrilling win,
made possible entirely by depth scoring.
That is, all seven goals came from someone not named Benn or Seguin, a
very welcome sight for this team.
But it was only a start. The real test would come on Saturday night
against, arguably, the best team in hockey: the St. Louis Blues.
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