Penguins-Stars Recap: Penguins Dim the Stars with 3-1 Win

Pregame:

The Penguins (39-26-4) met the Dallas Stars (38-24-6) 24 hours removed from a confusing, irritating, debilitating loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Lineups:

1st Period

Three minutes into the game, Dallas was granted the first power-play of the contest. Conor Sheary was caught tripping Jamie Benn. Two minutes later, 5v5 resumed.

With 13:18 left in the first, Devin Shore high-sticked Brian Dumoulin and Pittsburgh was given their first chance on the power-play. Dallas would successfully do their job and the man advantage would expire.

Dallas’ Marc Methot was penalized for cross-checking Josh Jooris at 12:37. Seconds into the power-play, Patric Hornqvist would receive a nice pass from Evgeni Malkin and took a quick shot from the right circle to give the Pens a 1-0 lead.

With 3.7 seconds left in the period, Phil Kessel found Jamie Oleksiak for a one-timer and the big defenseman would score on his former team to give the Penguins a 2-0 lead.

The period would come to an end with the Pens holding onto a 2-0 lead and smiles all around.

Stats after one:

2nd Period

19 seconds into the period, Tyler Pitlick cross-checked Jake Guentzel into the boards, giving Pittsburgh another power-play. Time would expire on the PP with no goal to report.

Greg Pateryn was cited for cross-checking Conor Sheary, and Pittsburgh would be given their third power-play of the night. The closest the Penguins came to extending the lead was a Kris Letang shot that rang off the post, but the Stars penalty-killers would answer the call once more.

At the halfway point of the period, Jake Guentzel was sent to the box for slashing. During the power-play, Olli Maatta was caught high-sticking Tyler Seguin, sending Pittsburgh to a 5-on-3 disadvantage.

Alexander Radulov would cut the lead in half after receiving a pass from Jason Spezza.

The Maatta penalty would expire to resume 5-on-5 play.

Jamie Oleksiak was tripped by the goalscorer, Radulov, with 3:40 left in the second period. Patric Hornqvist looked to have scored his second goal of the night and regained the two-goal lead for the Penguins.

But, after review, it was determined that Evgeni Malkin was offsides and the goal would not count.

The power-play would expire and the period would as well. Instead of a comfy two-goal lead, the Penguins went into the locker room with a 2-1 lead after forty minutes of play.

Stats after two:

3rd Period

Not a lot to report through the first ten minutes of the final frame. The clock really bled down here.

Chad Ruhwedel was called for hooking Devin Shore. The Penguins successfully killed the Ruhwedel penalty. The 2-1 lead remained intact.

Kari Lehtonen was subbed for the extra attacker with two minutes left in regulation.

BULLSEYE FOR EVGENI MALKIN. An empty-netter for Geno would extend the lead to 3-1 with 43 seconds left in the game.

Time would expire and the Penguins would walk out of the building with a 3-1 win.

Final Thoughts

• What a response by the Penguins on the second night of a back-to-back. Dallas was 7-2-1 in their last 10 against Pittsburgh and the Penguins responded from last night’s defeat by a complete performance.
• Casey DeSmith, and really, the entire defensive unit was solid tonight. Great effort by only allowing 1 goal to a pretty loaded Stars team.
• The ticky-tacky offsides call on Geno may be the talking point of the game, but in the end the Penguins didn't need it to secure the win.
• Jamie Oleksiak had a nice game against his former club. A goal on Wednesday against the Flyers and a goal tonight boots his confidence for sure.
• The Penguins will return to action on Wednesday when they return to ‘Wednesday Night Rivalry’ for the second week in a row by traveling to the Garden to battle the Rangers.