The Dallas Stars didn't win tonight even though they outshot the Atlanta Thrashers 47-25. The Stars couldn't capitalize on their shots and Thrasher goalie Ondrej Pavelec kept Atlanta alive through overtime to beat the Stars 6-5.
Before the game:
The Thrashers were 2nd to Washington in the Southeast Division coming into the game and 7th in the Eastern Conference. Ilya Kovalchuk had 18 goals and 4 assists, one of the best snaps on the continent, but has never scored a goal against the Stars. Evander Kane, who played with the Vancouver Giants last year, was 2nd in goal scoring in the WHL with 48 goals in 61 games. This is goalie Pavelec's 40th career game at 8-8-3. Pavelec and veteran Johan Hedberg have shared the goaltender position as the Thrashers await the return of Kari Lehtonen, who has had two back surgeries.
Jamie Benn, hands down the best Star on the ice at last night's game in spite of their loss with the Carolina Hurricanes, had 5 goals and 11 assists.
Mike Ribeiro had 3 assists last night with his 6th multi-point game this season, 3 accrued in the last 5 games. Mike Modano picked up points on 4 out of 5 games on this road trip. Trevor Daley is out tonight with a shoulder injury. He's listed day-to-day. Jeff Woywitka replaces him in the lineup.
1st period:
Alexander Auld starts the night as the Stars goalie, giving him his 2nd start in the last 3 games.
At 18:35, Atlanta gets a penalty. Dallas goes on their first powerplay as 12th in the NHL at 20%. Stephane Robidas gets a deflection from Loui Eriksson who scores at 17:48 in to the first period. Robidas now co-leads the tea with 6 power play goals of the season.
Then, Jere Lehtinen receives a hooking minor and the Thrashers go on a power play. This was Lehtinen's first penalty of the season. At 6:30 in the first period, Ilya Kovalchuk scores, tieing the game 1-1.
Stars goalie Alex Auld got clocked by #20 Colby Armstrong as Kane shot. Auld caught the puck, but got his back and head pounded into the net post. Dallas goes on a power play as the Thrashers are called for goalie interference.
Jere Lehtinen helped Dallas regain its lead while the Stars were shorthanded with 3:46 left in the first period. Steve Ott's shot from the right circle was blocked by #77 Pavel Kubina before popping out to Lehtinen, who zinged a wrist shot from the inner edge of the circle for his second of the year to make it 2-1.
At the end of the first period, Dallas outshot Atlanta 17-6.
2nd period:
So far, goalie Pavelec is the only guy keeping Atlanta in the game as the Stars repeatedly pound the net.
About 13 minutes into the 2nd period, Mark Fistric heads into the locker room with an upper body injury and was out for the rest of the game.
Chris Thorburn, #27, plants himself in front of Auld with defenseman Niklas Grossman to cover when Jim Slater, as he slides around behind on Auld's right, slices the puck toward the net where it bounces off Thorburn's skate and into the net to tie the score at 2-2. This makes Slater's first goal in 14 games this season. (FYI-Slater's father played for the Vikings and Patriots.)
Brad Richards gets a penalty for slashing and Atlanta capitalizes with a goal by #80 Nik Antropov. This makes Antropov's 6th goal of the season. Rich Peverley and Tobias Enstrom get the assists.
No rest for Marty Turco. Alex Auld allowed three goals on 15 shots before leaving the game, replaced by Turco.
With 2 minutes left in the second period, the Stars have a face off to the right of Pavelec. As soon as the puck is dropped, Jamie Benn jumps in, grabbing the puck near the dot, and scores for his 6th career goal. Mike Ribeiro gets the assist at 18:02. Score tied at 3-3.
The Stars nearly regained the lead with 37.6 seconds left in the second. Modano spanks one hard at the net and Jere Lehtinen shoots on the rebound, but Pavelec holds.
3rd period:
With the game tied at 3, Robidas gave Dallas the edge when his wrist shot from the right point found its way through traffic and past Pavelec for a 4-3 lead.
But Maxim Afinogenov tied it at 4 with 11:33 left, with Atlanta's third power-play goal of the game. #5 Matt Niskanen gets a penalty for holding when falling with #61 Afinogenov while on a breakaway.
Peverley broke the tie with a set up from Colby Armstrong giving the Thrashers a 5-4 advantage when he scored a shorthanded goal with 7:14 remaining in regulation.
With a little over a minute to play in regulation, Dallas has an empty net to try to make up some scoring.
Robidas shoots hard from the left point. First the puck went off Atlanta defenseman Ron Hainsey's stick before careening off Eriksson's face shield and into the net. The goal came just 9 seconds after Crawford pulled his goalie. Loui Eriksson skates away from the goal with a bit of blood on his face shield.
Eriksson's goal ties the game 5-5.
OT:
A short overtime can be a blessing, but probably not to the Dallas Stars tonight as Niskanin was late skating to the net to to stop Rich Peverley from scoring the game winning goal 76 seconds into overtime, 6-5.
Notes:
- Robidas scored his sixth and seventh power-play goals, overtaking captain Brenden Morrow for the team lead. Robidas also tied his career-high of nine goals set in 2007-08.
- Lehtinen is three games away from moving into third on the Stars' all-time games played list. He played in his 837th game.
- Dallas now has two shorthanded goals.
- Modano had a pair of assists, and has points in four of his last five games.
- The Stars outshot the Thrashers 17-6 in the first period, 16-9 in the second and 14-9 in the third.
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The last time Dallas lost in Atlanta was on Jan. 18, 2006 by a score of 5-2.
Three star of the game:
- 1st: RICH PEVERLEY
- 2nd: ONDREJ PAVELEC
- 3rd: ILYA KOVALCHUK
Goal scorers:
DAL: S. Robidas (PPG, 02:12 - 1st) , J. Lehtinen (SHG, 16:14 - 1st) , J. Benn (18:02 - 2nd) , S. Robidas (PPG, 04:43 - 3rd) , L. Eriksson (18:48 - 3rd)
ATL: I. Kovalchuk (PPG, 06:30 - 1st) , J. Slater (10:47 - 2nd) , N. Antropov (PPG, 12:35 - 2nd) , M. Afinogenov (PPG, 08:27 - 3rd) , R. Peverley (SHG, 12:46 - 3rd) , R. Peverley (01:16 - OT)
Next game:
Dallas hosts our arch enemy, the Detroit Red Wings Saturday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. at AAC. The game marks the beginning of a three-game homestand. The Red Wings had won four of their last five heading into their game on Thursday night against Tampa Bay.
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