In Dallas Monday, the Stars’ Tyler Seguin scored his second goal of the game with under two minutes left in regulation to force extra time with the Ottawa Senators.
In the end it wasn’t enough, as the Senators escaped Dallas with a 3-2 OT win on a goal from Erik Karlsson midway through the extra session.
“We got a point, and we tried everything we could to get the focus where it was, but some guys were good, and some guys struggled,” Stars coach Ken Hitchcock said.
This is not the time of year to be looking past “easy” competition and the Stars were guilty of that Monday night, seeing the Senators as an easy two points.
“We forgot that we’re still in the NHL and every team’s good with the parity in this league,” Seguin said. “I thought, myself included, we played like we were saving energy for (Tuesday) night. So, we better be flying then.”
Mike Hoffman and Matt Duchene scored for the Senators in regulation as they pushed their record to 23-32-10.
“Tonight, Erik was outstanding and our goalie was outstanding,” Senators head coach Guy Boucher said. “That’s what you get when the two most important players on the team are at their best. That’s when we’re at our best.”
Ottawa continues to play out the schedule and have been up and down throughout the current campaign.
“We’re building toward next year,” Duchene said. “It’s not where we want to be, but we’re in this position. We had everybody pulling. I don’t think we had any passengers. It’s too good of a league now. If you have two of three guys not going, you’re toast.”
Craig Anderson made 31 saves to pick up the win for Ottawa.
“I think 3-on-3 is one of our strong suits. Maybe we should try to take coinciding penalties throughout the game and get 3-on-3 going in the regular game,” Anderson said after the win.
[WATCH: All Senators vs. Stars highlights]
Ben Bishop got the start for Dallas but left the game in first period with an injury; he had 12 saves in his time on ice.
Kari Lehtonen made 15 saves in relief in the loss.
“You’ve been sitting there for a while. You just go there and start trying to get the things going and rolling. And then, after a while, it feels like you belong there,” Lehtonensaid after the game.
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