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Jamie Benn has lone goal in 4-1 loss against Jets

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The Dallas Stars went into Monday night’s game looking for two points against a quality divisional opponent that has had their number as of late in the Winnipeg Jets. Injuries starting to mount up, the Stars moved Jamie Oleksiak into the lineup as a winger on the fourth line, along with a recovering Martin Hanzal. The Stars last squared off against the Jets four nights ago in Winnipeg, a game in which Dallas came out flat and let the game get away from them in the first period.

In Winnipeg, the Stars were not awarded a single power play, a stat that clearly had to change if they were going to have any kind of chance on Monday.

The game began with a familiar script as noted Stars assassin Mark Scheifele scored on the first shift after he rushed into the zone and toe dragged his way into a wrist shot that everyone knew was going in. Not able to get out of their own way, Marc Methot got loose with the puck in his own zone, turned it over, and John Klingberg had to take an early penalty on a clearing attempt. Winnipeg immediately went to work looking for rebounds and deflections. It eventually paid off for them as Ben Bishop couldn’t find the puck through a screen, and Patrick Laine fired a shot from the point that was intended for a deflection, but found the back of the net anyway.

Remi Elie committed an infraction that you don’t see called very often when he caught the puck with his hand in the offensive zone but closed fingers over the puck before pitching it back on the ice. Fortunately for the Stars, they managed to kill the penalty despite leaving their first group on the ice for nearly the duration of the penalty.

After generating a decent offensive possession, the Stars re-racked in their own zone, but John Klingberg couldn’t complete the neutral zone pass. It was picked off and created a 2-on-1 for the Jets which was finished off by Kyle Connor. The Stars found themselves in a 3-0 hole in the first period, to the same team, within the same week. The shot totals at the end of the frame looked respectable (13-11), but the Jets were quicker to every puck, forechecking on every zone entry, and generally didn’t allow the Stars room to breathe.

Right off the first face-off in the first, Jamie Benn was able to sneak in behind the defense with the puck and attempted a wrist shot that caught the pipe. Jason Spezza took a stick right in the teeth and practically had to beg the referee to call a penalty with his reaction on the ice. On their first power play of the year against the Jets the Stars cashed when Benn slipped the puck through Connor Hellebuyck’s five hole after a wayward point shot.

The goal was a timely one as it gave Dallas some confidence, and all of a sudden they started to outwork Winnipeg a little bit. Head coach Ken Hitchcock blended the lines, and Dallas started to take a lot more risks. It earned them another power play opportunity, and Benn nearly scored in the same manner, but Hellebuyck was ready for it.

After killing a penalty, the Stars were caught in their defensive zone. Bishop mishandled the puck behind his net, and it nearly cost Dallas, but Hanzal laid out on the ice to block a shot on the empty net. The Stars were able to make a bit of a push in the second period but needed a whole lot more in the third to come away with points.

Hellebuyck maintained control of the game for the Jets in the third period, though the Stars sent enough rubber his way. It was a troubling sign that harkened back to earlier in the season when the Stars were letting opposing goaltenders outwork them and steal games. On the other end of the ice Bishop did enough to keep Dallas in it, making key saves on a couple of odd-man rushes.

Much like the last game against the Jets, the game was ultimately lost in the first period. Hitchcock pulled out every lineup idea he had available to him, and the Stars played a much better game after the first intermission, but it was too little too late. For good measure, the Jets punctuated the victory with an empty net goal from Scheifele for his second of the night. Hellebuyck, who finished the night with a tidy .971 SV%, remains the only goaltender in the NHL without a regulation loss.

The Goals

First Period

:26 On the first shift of the game, Mark Scheifele called his own number by entering the zone, pulling the puck in with a toe drag, and beating Ben Bishop in the corner with a wrist shot. Stars 0, Jets 1

5:12 Patrick Laine beat a heavily screened Ben Bishop from the point on the power play. Stars 0, Jets 2

19:03 John Klingberg’s pass through the neutral zone was picked off, and Blake Wheeler found Kyle Connor on the 2-on-1 to put Winnipeg up by three. Stars 0, Jets 3

Second Period

4:13 Jamie Benn scored a power play goal off of a wide shot from the point from John Klingberg. Benn gathered the rebound and went five hole. Stars 1, Jets 3

Third Period

19:47 Mark Scheifele recorded his second goal of the game when the Stars emptied their net. Stars 1, Jets 4

Jets lineup
Kyle Connor — Mark Scheifele — Blake Wheeler
Nikolaj Ehlers — Bryan Little — Patrick Laine
Andrew Copp — Adam Lowry — Brandon Tanev
Shawn Matthias — Matt Hendricks — Joel Armia

Josh Morrissey — Jacob Trouba
Toby Enstrom — Dustin Byfuglien
Dmitry Kulikov — Tyler Myers

Connor Hellebuyck
Steve Mason

Scratched: Marko Dano, Ben Chiarot, Brendan Lemieux

Injured: Mathieu Perreault (lower body)

Stars lineup
Jamie Benn — Tyler Seguin — Alexander Radulov
Antione Roussel — Jason Spezza — Remi Elie
Jason Dickinson — Mattias Janmark — Devin Shore
Jamie Oleksiak — Martin Hanzal — Gemel Smith

Marc Methot — John Klingberg
Dan Hamhuis — Greg Pateryn
Esa Lindell — Stephen Johns

Ben Bishop
Kari Lehtonen

Scratched: none

Injured: Brett Ritchie (upper body), Tyler Pitlick (upper body), Radek Faksa (lower body)

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