The Dallas Stars welcomed the Nashville Predators to the Metroplex on Friday night. Matt Duchene had a night with two points (one goal and one assist) against his former team, who bought him out during the 2023 NHL offseason, but the Stars lost to the Predators 6-3 at the American Airlines Center. Dallas fell to 24-12-5, while Nashville improved to 23-18-1.
The Stars welcomed starting goaltender Jake Oettinger back to the starting lineup. Oettinger has been dealing with an undisclosed lower-body injury. The other Stars players in the namesake lineup were Joe Pavelski, Joel Hanley, Jason Robertson, Thomas Harley, and Roope Hintz.
There wasn’t any first-period scoring action, but Mason Marchment was called for tripping against Alexandre Carrier at 4:22 of the first period. The Stars and Predators were in a scoreless tie at the end of the first period. Dallas edged Nashville in shots, 7-6, after the opening 20 minutes.
The second period was essentially the Nashville Predators show. Nashville had two second-period goals: an unassisted goal off of Jeremy Lauzon’s wrist shot at 9:22 for his fourth of the season and a goal off of Tommy Novak’s wrist shot at 13:51 for his seventh of the season. Denis Gurianov and Roman Josi collected the assists on Novak’s goal. Dallas trailed the Predators 2-0 at the end of two periods. Nashville outshot Dallas 21-14 through 40 minutes. Dallas finally got on the board to open the third-period scoring. Jani Hakanpää cut the Predators’ lead in half, 2-1, with a snapshot at 1:09 of the third period. Matt Duchene and Tyler Seguin collected the assists on Hakanpää’s second of the season.
Ryan O’Reilly extended the Predators’ lead to 3-1 with a snapshot at 3:41 of the third period. Filip Forsberg collected the lone assist on O’Reilly’s 16th of the season. The Stars quickly responded to make it a one-goal game. Wyatt Johnston fired a wrist shot into the Predators’ net to cut the lead to 3-2 at 8:11 of the third period. Nils Lundkvist and Thomas Harley collected the assists on Johnston’s 11th of the season.
The Predators doubled their lead. Filip Forsberg capitalized on the man advantage and used a snap shot to score a power-play goal that put the Predators up 4-2 at 10:08 of the third period. Roman Josi and Ryan O’Reilly collected the assists on Forsberg’s 22nd of the season. Once again, Dallas made it a one-goal game. Matt Duchene capitalized on the man advantage with a snap shot that led to a power-play goal that cut the Predators’ lead to 4-3 at 13:36 of the third period. Jason Robertson and Joe Pavelski collected the assists on Duchene’s 13th of the season.
However, Nashville extended its lead once again. Gustav Nyquist fired a wrist shot into the Stars’ net for an empty net goal for a 5-3 lead at 17:27 of the third period. Roman Josi and Ryan O’Reilly collected the assists on Nyquist’s 11th of the season. The Predators added another empty-net goal to seal the deal. Juuso Parssinen fired a wrist shot into the Stars’ net for an empty-netter and a 6-3 lead at 19:29 of the third period. Parssinen’s unassisted goal was his seventh of the season. The Stars lost to the Predators 6-3 in regulation. Nashville outshot Dallas 38-22 after a full 60 minutes.
Notes
Three Stars of the Game
1. Ryan O’Reilly (3 points: 1 goal and 2 assists)
2. Filip Forsberg (2 points: 1 goal and 1 assist)
3. Matt Duchene (2 points: 1 goal and 1 assist)
NHL to AHL
The Dallas Stars loaned goaltender Matt Murray to the Texas Stars on Thursday, January 11.
Up Next
The Stars will travel to the Windy City to take on the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. Central.
ITR 45: Everything Is Happening – Inside The Rink
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