The Dallas Stars finally found their footing, and once the second period opened up, the Sharks had no answer.
After a sluggish start to the season and a morning skate message from head coach Glen Gulutzan that the problem was execution rather than the system, the Stars turned in the kind of game they had been chasing. San Jose came in on a two-game win streak, but that didn’t matter once Dallas started piling on goals.
The breakthrough came in the second period, when the Stars broke the seal and never looked back. Joel Kiviranta made it happen first, banking a shot off a Sharks player and past Yaroslav Askarov.
About three minutes later, Jamie Benn scored from the doorstep, and then Jason Robertson got loose in the slot and buried his chance. By the time the period ended, Dallas was up 4-0 and had the shot advantage, 20-7.
San Jose had more life in the third, pushing harder and creating a few better looks in an attempt to spoil Jake Oettinger’s shutout. Will Smith rang one off the post early in the period, one of the Sharks’ best chances of the night. But the Stars still had enough left to add one more, with Mikko Rantanen scoring his first goal of the season to make it 5-0.
Oettinger finished the night with his first shutout of the season and the 17th of his career. Before the game, it was also announced at warm-ups that Sharks captain Macklin Celebrini would be out with a lower-body injury, and Ty Dellandrea would step in.
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Stars May Have Found The Response Their Slumping Attack Needed
The Stars got exactly the kind of reset they were looking for with a 5-0 win over the Sharks, snapping out of a brief stretch in which the offense had gone quiet. After two games without much scoring, Dallas looked more like itself by keeping the game simple, spending more time in the offensive zone and tilting the ice in its favor from the start.
San Jose was already shorthanded without Macklin Celebrini, but Dallas did far more than take advantage of a thin lineup. The Stars controlled the game territorially and played with a much better edge in the details, winning battles and creating traffic instead of trying to force perfect looks, a formula that may be worth carrying forward if this attack wants to stay on track. [Read more 🡒]