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Stars Win Pre-Finland Finale, 4-2, vs. Chicago |
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It was a little too close for comfort in the third period but the Dallas Stars skated off with a 4-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks at American Airlines Center on Saturday. Power play and empty net goals by Matt Duchene (5th and 6th goals of the season, PPG coming from a very tight angle off a Logan Stankoven feed) paced the Stars offensively, along with even strength goals by Evgenii Dadonov (1st) in the first period and captain Jamie Benn (2nd) in the middle stanza.
Benn's goal was a beauty. Showing off intense focus and stellar hand-eye coordination, the veteran leader batted an airborne puck into the net well below the crossbar.
The Blackhawks made a third period push as they out-shot Pete DeBoer's club by a 10-5 margin. Goals by Ryan Donato (3rd) and Connord Bedard (3rd) whittled the Stars lead down to a single goal with more than five minutes left on the clock. Finally, Duchene's empty netter at 19:42 iced the final two-goal margin of victory.
The Stars (7-2-0 through nine games) have won back-to-back matches since a disappointing 4-2 loss in Buffalo on Tuesday. Chicago is winless in its last four games.
Dallas starting lineup on Saturday:
21 Jason Robertson - 24 Roope Hintz - 11 Logan Stankoven
27 Mason Marchment - 95 Matt Duchene - 91 Tyler Seguin
14 Jamie Benn - 53 Wyatt Johnston - 63 Evgenii Dadonov
18 Sam Steel - 22 Mavrik Bourque -15 Colin Blackwell
4 Miro Heiskanen - 3 Matt Dumba
23 Esa Lindell - 5 Nils Lundkvist
55 Thomas Harley - 46 Ilya Lyubushkin
29 Jake Oettinger
[1 Casey DeSmith]
Next up for the Stars. The Stars have a schedule break this week as they travel to Finland to prepare for their two "Global Series" games against the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers (7-2-0) on Nov. 1 at 1 p.m. CDT and Nov. 2 at 11 a.m. CDT. The Stars are the designated home team in Saturday's game and the road team on Saturday.