David Perron’s first goal in a Dallas Stars sweater came in his fifth game, but the night quickly turned into a rough one for his new club.
Perron scored at 11:14 of the second period Thursday against the Winnipeg Jets, getting credit when a Thomas Harley point shot deflected off him in front and slipped past Stuart Skinner. At that moment, Dallas was up 3-2. By the time the dust settled at American Airlines Center, Winnipeg had ripped off the next six goals and rolled to an 8-3 win.
The goal was the 333rd of Perron’s NHL career and his first for Dallas. He finished with six shots, tied with Tyler Seguin for the game high, and logged 14:29 of ice time, including 1:56 on the power play.
Dallas brought in the 38-year-old on a one-year, $850,000 deal in October, setting him up for his 20th NHL season.
Perron nearly added another late in the third. He put the puck in the net on a Dallas power play, but officials ruled it a kick-in on the ice.
That goal would have given Jamie Benn his 1,000th career point on the second assist. Instead, Benn remains at 999.
Perron’s Dallas debut came Oct. 31 in a 3-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets, when he played 11:31. He said afterward that the first two periods felt fast and that he needed to react quicker before things improved in the third.
“You can start building onto something,” Perron said after the debut.
Thursday also came after a players-only meeting in the Stars’ room. The team stayed behind closed doors for at least 10 minutes after the coaches left, The Dallas Morning News reported. Perron is usually the one steering those kinds of conversations, but this time he took a back seat and watched how his new teammates handled it.
Benn described the meeting as a needed moment for the group.
“I think it was just something that needed to happen for our group,” Benn said of the meeting.
Perron said the room’s standards are high and that teams grow closer when they talk through problems directly.
“When you go through a tough patch, teams react, and that’s what we did,” Perron said.
The veteran winger was drafted 26th overall by St. Louis in 2007 and spent 11 seasons across three separate stints with the Blues, winning the Stanley Cup there in 2019. He has also played for Edmonton, Pittsburgh, Anaheim, Vegas, Detroit, and Ottawa.
Last season, Perron split 65 games between Ottawa and Detroit and finished with 13 goals and 15 assists.
Dallas returns home to face the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday at 7 p.m. CT.
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