Blog : Stars Shine in Victory Over Penguins

The Dallas Stars stars were unkind hosts to the Pittsburgh Penguins Saturday evening, routing the Penguins 3-0. Stars goaltender Kari Lehtonen was stellar as he shutout the high-octane Penguins, stopping all 24 shots he faced. In what was pretty much a one-sided affair the entire game, the Dallas Stars took the fight to the Penguins and never let their foot off of the gas. It was obvious that the Stars wanted to use this game as a "measuring stick" of the progress they had been making recently. They were winners of their past two games, both in a similar, dominant fashion. They beat the Wild 4-0, and the Maple Leafs 7-1, before routing the Penguins.
Much of the 1st period was rather uneventful. The only real hightlight for the Penguins came on their first power play when Lehtonen stifled James Neal in front, keeping the Penguins off the board. The Stars would kill off that pentaly and from that point on, seemed to take over the game. Later in the period Dallas got its first crack at a power play, and they did not fail to produce. After allowing the Stars forward Ray Whitney a clean entry down the right wing boards, Whitney made a pass back to a wide open Sergi Gonchar, who ripped home a slap shot to Fluery's glove side. That PK attempt looked unlike any other Penguins effort. And the trend would continue. Early in the 2nd period, after a Kris Letang penalty, the Stars PP struck again. After killing 1:50 of the 2:00, the Penguins' PK let their guard down; once again allowing a clean entry into the zone, this time from the left boards. Tyler Seguin connected on a beautiful wide open pass to Jamie Benn streaking down the right wing. Benn buried the pass on a one-timer into an empty net. The Penguins woes continued. Nearly half way into the 2nd period the Penguins couldn't even muster a double-digit Shots-on-Goal number. The Stars were that aggressive and dominant. And to make matters worse, the Penguins seemed about as disinterested and apathetic as any team could look. And it would lead to the Stars 3rd goal. After trying to go 1-on-3 through the neutral zone, Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin was stripped of the puck. The Stars headmanned the puck to forward Rich Peverley who skated into the Penguins' zone with speed and snapped a shot again high glove side over Fluery, to make it 3-0 Dallas.
The Penguins attempted to show some signs of life in the 3rd period, as they managed to sustain a few offensive zone rushes and put some pucks on net. However, the shots were paultry at best. With little to no traffic in front of Lehtonen, the saves were methodical and routine. The other thing that made Lehtonen's performace stand out was his rebond control. There were little to no 2nd chance opportunities as Lehtonen's vision and dexterity shone through, swallowing up shot after shot. The Penguins' "stars" seemed to be in the funk that plauged them in the ECF against Boston. In fact, this game as a whole was an eerie reproduction of those ECF games. The amount of times I didn't hear the names of Crosby and Malkin, etc. goes to show you just how taken out of the game they were. Dallas' gameplan worked to perfection, and it will be interesting to see how other teams match up the Penguins as they watch the film of this game.
All-in-all it was an abismal performance from the Penguins, who seemed to have turned a page after their embarrassing loss to the Panthers last Monday night. Now they face a Buffalo team who, in spite of being the worst team in hockey, would love nothing more than to beat the East's best team. And with the Penguins' recent penchant for losing to bad teams, this game tonight will not be an easy one by any stretch. I fully expect the Sabres to come out hungry and looking to strike on an emotionally rattled Penguins' team. The silver-lining for the Penguins is that they haven't had a two game losing streak since Nov 23-25 when they lost back-to-back games to the Bruins and Canadiens. Let's hope that stat stays that way.