Stars give up five goals again, fall in OT
/Andrew's Dallas Stars Page
The Dallas Stars gave up five goals for a second straight game but they couldn't overcome it this time around. The fifth goal they surrendered Saturday night came with 1:30 remaining in overtime and left them with a 5-4 loss to the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Place.
"We have to recognize we are letting points get away by shooting ourselves in the foot," said Stars coach Dave Tippett. "We have some people doing things and we have some people who are not."
The loss snapped a two-game winning streak for the Stars, who were trying to put together three consecutive wins for the first time this season. The loss also kept them from climbing back to the .500 mark on the season.
Saturday's game was 13th time this season the Stars had allowed five goals or more in a game. On this night they gave up five to the Senators, who have struggled to score all season and had mustered just five goals in their last five games.
"It's frustrating," Stars center Brad Richards said. "We gave up five goals. It's tough to score six or seven every night. You know that's not going to happen every time. Allowing three goals on the penalty kill shows we lost the special teams battle."
The Stars' penalty kill, which had been effectively lately, was a killer Saturday night. It gave up three goals on six shorthanded opportunities.
"Penalty killing is a combination of a lot of things like blocking lanes," said Tippett. "You need saves from your goaltender. I thought there were a couple of goals that should’ve been stopped."
Marty Turco stopped 28 of 33 shots on the night and gave up five goals for the second straight game.
The Stars got goals from Matt Niskanen, Richards, Toby Petersen and Loui Eriksson.
Ottawa took the early lead on their first shot of the game when Daniel Alfredsson scored 1:27 into the game from the wing. The Stars tied it late in the first when Niskanen beat Ottawa goalie Martin Gerber with a wrist shot from the top of the right circle.
After Ottawa took the lead on a power play goal by Antoine Vermette, who scored from the side of the net at the 3:52 mark, the Stars got a power play goal by Richards and an even strength goal by Petersen 2:12 apart to take a 3-2 lead. Richards scored off a wrist shot from the high slot and Petersen beat Gerber with a shot from the right circle off the rush.
But Ottawa got power play goals from Jason Spezza at 11:51 of the second and Alexandre Picard at 1:36 of the third to take the lead. Eriksson countered with a shot off a nice from Richards with 5:34 left in regulation to tie.
But the Senators got game-winner in overtime when Jason Smith pinched in the blue line, took a pass from Mike Fisher and beat Turco with a shot from the right circle.
"I don't score very many, but it's obviously nice to score a goal and help the team get a big win," said Smith, whose goal was his first in 104 games and his first point of the season.
Notes: The Stars activated forward Jere Lehtinen from injured reserve Saturday. Lehtinen played Saturday... Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson left the game in the second period with an upper body injury after being along the boards by Stars forward Jere Lehtinen. ... F Joel Lundqvist (sore shoulder) and D Nicklas Grossman (flu) did not play for Dallas. ...
| First Period |
|
The Senators scored on their first shot of the game when Daniel Alfredsson beat Marty Turco with a snapshot 1:27 into the game. The Stars tied it with 51 seconds left in the
period when Matt Niskanen skated into the Ottawa zone and put a
soft shot on net from the top of the right circle that found its
way past Senators goalie Martin Gerber. |
| Second Period |
|
Ottawa took the lead 3:52 into the second period when Antoine Vermette scored from the side of the net with the Senators on the power play But the Stars bounced to tie with a power play goal of their own. Brad Richards scored off a wrist shot from the high slot at the 7:37 mark. Just 2:12 later the Stars took a 3-2 lead when Toby Petersen scored off the rush, beating Gerber from the left circle. But the Senators tied the game at 3-3 with their second power play goal of the period at the 11:51 mark. Jason Spezza got the puck off a dump-in, skated to the front of the net, got Turco to drop and then roofed a shot into the goal. Ottawa lost captain Daniel Alfredsson during that power play. He left the ice after being hit into the boards by Stars forward Jere Lehtinen. Alfredsson did not return with an upper body injury. He told Team 1200 Radio after the game he didn't think it was serious. Score after second period: Dallas 3, Ottawa 3 |
| Third Period |
|
The Senators got the lead back 1:36 into the
third period with a power play goal. Alexandre Picard's shot
from the point got by Turco, who was screened by Chris Neil.
The Stars got the equalizer with 5:34 left in the period when Richards sent a pass from behind the net to Loui Eriksson, who scored on a shot from the slot for his 18th goal of the season. Score after third period: Dallas 4, Ottawa 4 |
| Overtime |
|
The Senators got a power play 27 seconds into
overtime when Stars defenseman Trevor Daley shot the puck over
the glass, but Ottawa couldn't take advantage of the
four-on-three chance. They did score four-on-four at the 3:30
mark when Mike Fisher sent a cross-ice pass from the corner to
pinching defenseman Jason Smith, who scored from the right
circle to win the game.
Final score: Ottawa 5, Dallas 4 |
| Official Scoresheet | Official Super Stats |
