In Dallas, Jake Oettinger made his season debut for the Stars and turned in a 27-save performance in a 5-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings.
Ryan Suter scored in the first period to give Dallas a 1-0 lead.
“I just tried to put myself in a good spot and take away the lower half of the net and be patient,” Oettinger said. “Obviously, those guys are so good in tight. Thankfully, I was able to come up with a few saves in tight there. Those were turning points in the game, and it’s the goalie’s job to step up, especially if you let in a couple goals that aren’t the strongest, it’s important to respond and give those guys confidence.”
The Stars pushed the lead out to 3-0 off hit from Jamie Benn and Roope Hintz in the middle frame.
Detroit’s Filip Zadina and Dylan Larkin (power play) scored to make the score 3-2 for Dallas.
“They came out hard, they pushed the pace,” Detroit’s Danny DeKeyser said. “They play fast, especially in this building. They come out fast, they play hard. They’re a big, physical team. They try to win net-front battles at both ends. They play a simple game, get pucks to the net and try to outwork you in front of the net. Tonight, they played harder than we did, and they came out faster and were more ready to go than we were.”
The Red Wings dropped to 8-8-2.
“We’ve got to get better defensively, that’s just the reality of it,” Detroit head coach Jeff Blashill said. “We’re a pretty good team when we have the puck. We’re a pretty good team when we’re hounding. We’re a pretty good team when we’re playing offense. We’re not a good enough team defensively right now.”
Jason Robertson scored twice in the third period, once into an empty net for the breathing room the Stars needed in the 5-2 final.
“We had good chemistry last year, so with that you have that trust, that belief it’s going to be there,” Dallas’ Joe Pavelski said (of linemates Robertson and Hintz). “Partly I think playing with a couple of really smart players, competitive players as well. So if we’re willing to work and support each other, we’re going to create a lot of those chances, and it’s showing.”
Alex Nedeljkovic made 25 saves in the Detroit loss.
“We need to get pucks out when there’s chances to get pucks out,” DeKeyser said. That’s how a lot of offense is created in this league is from turnovers or from a defensive play that doesn’t work out how you want it to. For us, we’ve got to win more battles.”
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