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Jamie Benn scores twice but Panthers defeat Stars 4-3 in shootout

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If the Dallas Stars were going to improve their road record and keep pace in the Central division, then they had to have a better effort against the Florida Panthers than they showed against the Carolina Hurricanes. It would be a tall task on the second night of a back-to-back. The recent history between these two teams tilts in the Stars’ favor, and they were hoping for similar results in a mostly empty building in Sunrise, Florida. Hoping to maintain consistent secondary scoring, the Stars iced a similar lineup to the one used in the previous two games, but with Jason Dickinson inserted into the top six.

The end result was not exactly what the Stars were looking for as the game would end in a shootout.

Devin Shore took his first penalty of the season in the first period with an ill timed poke check that resulted in a tripping minor. Jonathan Huberdeau was left all alone in the slot and easily beat Kari Lehtonen. Save for a couple of shifts in the opening seconds of the game, the Panthers held onto the puck for the majority of the first frame, and the Stars showed no discernible ability to keep possession. Passing lanes were closed, they were slow to the puck, and the Panthers broke out of their own zone with relative ease, mainly due to the passing of top defenseman Keith Yandle.

Panthers goaltender Roberto Luongo was only tested twice in the first ten minutes. To make matters worse, Greg Pateryn gifted the Panthers another power play opportunity with another tripping minor. On the penalty kill Jamie Benn created golden opportunity for a shorthanded goal on the forecheck, and fired a wrist shot from the slot. Luongo batted it down with his glove. Jamie Oleksiak committed a high sticking minor while he was on the penalty kill, and the Panthers spent four seconds with a two man advantage.

At the tail end of their third power play, Huberdeau made his stick blade available at the front of the net, and Esa Lindell was late on clearing the crease. Huberdeau put his team up by two, and natural hat trick watch was momentarily in full effect. Up to that point, the only real fight Dallas was putting up was from Remi Elie’s  full body check on MacKenzie Weegar all the way into the Stars bench. It was the type of play that you hope would energize a lethargic team, but the Stars couldn’t seem to get out of their own way.

Late in the period, Benn and Alexander Radulov had a 2-on-1, which could almost be considered automatic when Radulov has the puck as of late. Benn finished off the play with a goal to give the Stars some semblance of momentum headed into the first intermission.

The second period was a different story. It began with 4-on-4 play, and Tyler Seguin took advantage by creating a breakaway off of Mattias Janmark’s pass and drawing a penalty. Luongo made a critical save with Dallas’ four best players on the ice, and the Panthers held serve against the Stars’ number one ranked power play unit. Dallas soon drew another penalty as Elie drove the net, put the puck off the post, and tripped on an outstretched stick from a defender.

On the power play, the Stars fired slapshot after slapshot from quality areas of the ice, but Luongo held them at bay and kept the stars 0 for 2 on the power play. However, Luongo soon lost control of his crease. He went behind the net to play the puck, but passed it to Radulov, who then centered to Benn for a goal on an open net, Benn’s second of the night. Elie quickly scored again with a backhander to completely take the air out of an already anemic crowd.

A clear departure from earlier in the game, the Stars only allowed one shot against for a span of 19 minutes. Jason Spezza almost recorded his second goal of the year on deke in front of the net that ended clanging off the pipe. Headed into the second intermission, the ice was tilted Dallas’ way, and they managed to outshoot Florida 18-4 in the second period.

Dickinson was late on defending the rush in the third period and quickly picked up another penalty as a result. Devin Shore almost scored Dallas’ second shorthanded goal of the year as he created a breakaway, switched to the backhand, but was stone-walled by Luongo’s shin pad. The power play expired, but Florida remained set up on offense. Aleksander Barkov evened the game up with a tap in after the puck bounced off of a couple of Dallas sticks. Lehtonen couldn’t do anything about it.

The goal gave the Panthers some energy and momentum. They drew a holding minor on Radulov, but the Stars were able to kill the penalty. The ice conditions began to deteriorate as the game clock wound down, and the Stars had to withstand a flurry of shots from the Panthers to send the game to overtime.

The Radulov to Benn connection nearly worked early in overtime. The Stars won another draw and held onto the puck to draw Luongo off balance with John Klingberg facing him one on one. Klingberg couldn’t pull the trigger in time, and Luongo made an impressive save on a shot from the slot. Former Star Colton Sceviour had a chance with a backhander but missed the net. After trading a couple quality looks, both teams appeared exhausted and content to send it to a shootout.

Seguin got things going and beat Luongo glove side. Barkov answered in the Panthers’ second frame with a backhander. After Luongo stopped both Benn and Radulov, Trocheck had a chance to finish the Stars and capitalized five hole on Lehtonen. It was a heartbreaking loss for the Stars who have only come away with one point on this road trip.

The Goals

First Period

5:13 Jonathan Huberdeau scored a power play goal after finding the seam in the offensive zone. He was left unchecked in the slot and beat Kari Lehtonen on his glove side. Stars 0, Panthers 1

15:23 Huberdeau stood at the front of the net on the power play and Aleksander Barkov found his stick blade for the easy tap in to score his second goal of the game and put his team up by two. Stars 0, Panthers 2

17:50 The Stars created a 2-on-1 and Jamie Benn received the pass from Alexander Radulov to finish the play with a wrist shot. Stars 1, Panthers 2

Second Period

10:56 Alexander Radulov stole the puck from Roberto Luongo behind the net and centered it to Jamie Benn, who had an open net, and scored his second goal of the night. Stars 2, Panthers 2

12:03 Remi Elie got one to go on a backhander as the puck bounced off of MacKenzie Weegar and found the back of the net. Stars 3, Panthers 2

Third Period

2:55 Aleksander Barkov evened things up with a tap in goal after the puck bounced off of a couple of sticks and was redirected. Stars 3, Panthers 3

Panthers lineup
Jonathan Huberdeau — Aleksander Barkov — Evgenii Dadonov
Dryden Hunt — Vincent Trocheck — Radim Vrbata
Jamie McGinn — Nick Bjugstad — Colton Sceviour
Michael Haley — Curtis Valk — Connor Brickley

Keith Yandle — Aaron Ekblad
Ian McCoshen — Mark Pysyk
Mike Matheson — MacKenzie Weegar

Roberto Luongo
James Reimer

Scratched: Alex Petrovic

Injured: Jared McCann (lower body), Derek MacKenzie (lower body)

Stars lineup
Mattias Janmark — Jamie Benn — Alexander Radulov
Jason Dickinson — Tyler Seguin — Devin Shore
Remi Elie — Martin Hanzal — Tyler Pitlick
Antoine Roussel — Radek Faksa — Jason Spezza

Esa Lindell — John Klingberg
Dan Hamhuis — Greg Pateryn
Jamie Oleksiak — Stephen Johns

Kari Lehtonen
Ben Bishop

Scratched: Gemel Smith, Brett Ritchie

Injured: Marc Methot (lower body)

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