The Stars won their third straight game when they hosted the Penguins at the American Airlines Center on Friday, March 22nd. Pittsburgh took their second loss straight after a 6-3 victory against the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday. Both Michael Bunting and Rickard Rakell scored the two goals for the Penguins in their 4-2 loss against Dallas. It was another amazing win for the Stars, their 43rd of the season. Jamie Benn scored two goals for Dallas in their 4-2 victory, extending his goal streak to three games.
Penguins lineup against the Stars:
O’Connor – Crosby – Rust
Bunting – Malkin – Rakell
Smith – Eller – Puustinen
Bemstrom – Acciari – Puljujarvi
Joseph – Letang
Pettersson – Karlsson
Ludvig – St. Ivany
Jarry
Nedeljkovic
Stars lineup against the Penguins:
Robertson – Hintz – Pavelski
Marchment – Duchene – Seguin
Benn – Johnston – Stankoven
Faksa – Steel – Smith
Harley – Heiskanen
Lindell – Tanev
Suter – Lundkvist
Oettinger
Michael Bunting put the Penguins in the lead early into the first period at 17:15, extending his point streak to four games (two goals, two assists) off a wraparound at the right post. At 12:44, Joe Pavelski tied it 1-1 with his 25th goal of the season from the top of the crease, his rebound attempt went in after it deflected off Marcus Pettersson. The Penguins and Stars remained in the 1-1 tie, heading into the second.
Putting Dallas back on top at 14:08 of the middle frame, Jamie Benn scored to put the Stars back in the lead 2-1… Only 1:17 later, Benn struck his second of the game and his 15th of the season to push it to 3-1. For the remainder of the second, the score had stayed the same, heading into the final frame.
At 15:23 of the third, Sam Steel scored his eighth goal of the season to put the Stars up 4-1. Steel sent a shot into the net from the high slot. Rickard Rakell cut the Stars’ lead with 8:57 left in regulation for the 4-2 final with his 11th of the season when Evgeni Malkin had found him from behind the net at the top of the crease.
Jason Robertson on the Stars’ 4-2 victory: “We finished off strong and we’re going on the road now – I think our desperation level or our details are, I think, really heightened right now, especially at this time of the year. It’s a race to the finish line, so it’s good to be finished off the homestand strong.”
Drew O’Connor on the Penguins’ loss against the Stars: “I thought it was a pretty even battle, and I think that they were opportunistic obviously around our net and we knew that was going to be a tough area to defend. They scored a few goals there, I think that definitely hurt us. I think they were going in the rush as well, they were good in transition, and I think maybe we could have done a better job of slowing them down.”
Notes:
– Jason Robertson recorded two assists, and Jake Oettinger made a total of 20 saves for Dallas.
Robertson has 15 points in 10 games of his past 11 (five goals, 10 assists).
– The Stars have scored 19 goals this season where the following players had points on the play; Seguin, Duchene, and Marchment. Even without Seguin for the month, he’s missed recently, it’s the most in the league by any trio of forwards… the next group has 13.
– Joe Pavelski reached 25 goals for the 12th season, and is the third most among United States-born players, being behind Keith Tkachuk (13 times) and Mike Modano (13 times).
– Michael Bunting had a goal and an assist, and Evgeni Malkin recorded two assists. Tristan Jarry allowed four goals on 20 and then was replaced by Alex Nedeljkovic, who made three saves.
– In Jack St. Ivany’s NHL debut, he had one shot on goal in 12:28 of ice time.
– The Penguins have eight regulation losses in March.
