Impressive debut: Brunnstrom’s hat trick fuels Stars’ win
/Andrew's Dallas Stars Page
The Dallas Stars tried to down play all the hype surrounding forward Fabian Brunnstrom as his NHL debut approached Wednesday night. Brunnstrom responded by living up to the hype, scoring three goals to lead the Dallas Stars to a 6-4 win over the Nashville Predators at the American Airlines Center.
The Stars (1-1-1) got their first win of the season. And Brunnstrom became just the third player in NHL history to score a hat trick in his NHL debut, joining Alex Smart of the Montreal Canadiens (1943) and Real Cloutier of the Quebec Nordiques (1979).
"Of course I scored three goals and that was fun, but more important was that we won the game and now we have our first win," said Brunnstrom, the Swedish prospect who was highly recruited by the Stars and several other NHL teams last season. "It was a lot of fun tonight."
Brunnstrom, who played on a line with Brad Richards and Sean Avery, was one of three players to score his first NHL goal Wednesday night. Nashville's Ryan Jones and Patric Hornqvist were the others, but this night belonged to Brunnstrom, whose goal with 3:25 remaining in the third period snapped a 4-4 tie and held up as the game-winner.
"He played a solid game," said Stars coach Dave Tippett. "The goals are easy to see, but just the way he played a simple, error-free game is what you are supposed to do. He capitalized on some chances. It's a great start for him, a great start."
Brunnstrom sat out the first two games of the season as a healthy scratch, waiting for a crack at his first NHL regular season action.
"I want to play every game and be part of the team, but this team is one of the best in the NHL and it has really good players so you have to earn your spot," he said.
The Stars also got a big night out of Mike Modano, who scored two goals and had one assist. Modano played with youngsters James Neal and B.J. Crombeen on his wings.
"Those young guys rub off on me," Modano said on FSN's postgame show. "James and B.J. had great games and they did a good job. We made some good plays and we skated well."
After getting off to sluggish starts in their first two games, the Stars showed a lot of energy in the first period Wednesday night and were able to take a 1-0 lead into the first intermission when Stephane Robidas scored a power play goal with just ten seconds remaining in the period. Modano scored just 29 seconds into the second period off a nice feed by Crombeen to put the Stars up 2-0, but the Predators bounced back to tie.
Brunnstrom then took over the Stars' goal scoring, countering the Nashville attack. He put them up 3-2 with his first goal, 4-3 with his second and 5-4 with his third tally.
Modano rounded out the scoring with an empty net goal.
The Predators, playing their fourth game in six nights, had a two-game winning streak snapped and fell to 2-2-0 on the season.
"It's disappointing," Nashville coach Barry Trotz said. "I didn't think we played a particularly great game, but we found a way to come back. When we get four goals, we've got to get a point in the hockey game. We were short in coverage on a number of their goals."
Although the Stars gave up four goals and needed a big night from a touted prospect making his NHL debut to pull out their first win of the young season, Tippett saw it as a step forward in the team's play.
"It was a much better team effort all the way around," Tippett said. "We need to tighten up the defense in our in own zone. We shouldn't give up four goals on 20 shots. We'll continue to work there, but there was much better effort and much better execution."
| Game Recap |
| First Period |
| After missing on their first two power play
chances of the game, the Stars cashed in on their third chance
to take a 1-0 lead with just ten seconds left in the first
period. Mike Ribeiro won the faceoff, which had been moved into
the Nashville zone under a new rule this season, back to
Stephane Robidas, who beat Preds goalie Dan Ellis with a shot
from the point. The Stars appeared to score on their first
power play, but a Loui Eriksson goal was waved off because of a
goalie interference call on Brenden Morrow. Score after first period: Dallas 1, Nashville 0 First period shots on goal: Dallas 6, Nashville 5 |
| Second Period |
| The Stars made it a 2-0 game just 29 seconds
into the period when Mike Modano charged the net and redirected
a B.J. Crombeen pass past Ellis. Nashville bounced back with two
goals to tie the game. Radek Bonk scored on the power play at
3:56 when he set up in front of the Dallas net and tipped a
Martin Erat shot past Marty Turco. The Predators drew even when
Ville Koistinen's shot from the point off a faceoff hit Patric
Hornqvist and slipped past Turco at 9:04. The Stars took a 3-2 lead at
11:45 when Toby Petersen made a nice play along the right
boards, skated on net and set up a wide open Fabian Brunnstrom,
who whipped the puck past Ellis from close range. Nashville tied
it at 13:50 when Ryan Jones scored off a scramble in front of
the Dallas net. Brunnstrom put the Stars up again at the 14:13
mark when he took a slick pass from Brad Richards and beat Ellis from
close range again. Score after second period: Dallas 4, Nashville 3 Second period shots on goal: Dallas 14, Nashville 8 |
| Third Period |
| Nashville tied the game on a controversial
power play goal at 10:59 of the third. Erat scored off a
scramble in front of the net. The ref signaled goal, but replays
didn't appear to show conclusively that the goal crossed the
goal line. The ref's on ice call stood and the game was tied
4-4. Brunnstrom put the Stars up for good with 3:25 left in the
game when Richards sent a pass from behind the
goal line to
the front of the net and Brunnstrom roofed it for the hat trick.
Modano rounded out the scoring with an empty net goal to make it
a 6-4 final.
Final score: Dallas 6, Nashville 4 |
| Official Scoresheet | Official Super Stats |
