It took a while, but the Dallas Stars finally got a home win with a 2-1 decision over the visiting Ottawa Senators on Monday night.
“It was a good 60 minutes,” Stars coach Jim Montgomery said. “The only thing that we didn’t love was a couple of turnovers in the second period. Besides that, we played pretty relentless hockey, both defensively and offensively.”
Radek Faksa and Joe Pavelski scored for the Stars who improved to 3-7-1.
“Yeah, it felt good,” Pavelski said. “It’s been a little tough that way, but just focus on the process and you’re going to get your chances. There’s been a few that have been close and to see that one squeak in there was nice.”
Anton Khudobin made 19 saves for the win.
“I didn’t have a lot of work, to be honest; the guys played really well,” Khudobin said. “But it’s a tough game to play just because you don’t see a lot of work. You just have to stay focused all of the time. Even if you look at the last goal, something hits you and goes in. It’s tough to play, but at the same time, we got the ‘W’ and that’s what is most important.”
Vladislav Namestnikov spoiled the shutout bid with 73 seconds left in the game.
“It was definitely one of the better starts we’ve had in this building; it was the best one of the year so far out of the few games that we’ve been here,” Pavelski said. “The encouraging part was that in the second, it took us a little bit to get going, but we never really fell back into our old habits. There was good commitment from the group to play these guys down low, and we generated a lot of our chances off of it.”
[WATCH:Â All Senators vs. Stars highlights]
Anders Nilsson made 41 saves in the loss.
“He’s been outstanding,” Senators coach D.J. Smith said of Nilsson. “He was our best player tonight, he was our best player in Vegas (a 3-2 shootout loss last Thursday). I thought we wasted his effort here tonight. In saying that, it’s a real bright spot for us that he’s playing the way he is. We’ve got to put a real effort in front of him when he’s giving us an effort like that, and you’re going to get yourself a win.”
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