1 week Ago By Marc Sautter, The Hockey Writers
Special teams took center stage as the Utah Hockey Club (37-30-13) beat the Dallas Stars (50-24-6) 5-3 at American Airlines Center on Saturday night. Barrett Hayton, Sean Durzi, Logan Cooley, Josh Doan, and Nick Schmaltz scored for the Hockey Club. Karel Vejmelka made 21 saves in the win.
Wyatt Johnston, Brendan Smith, and Jason Robertson scored for Dallas. Casey DeSmith made 29 saves in the loss. Game Recap Johnston got the party going early in Dallas on Saturday night with his 32nd goal of the season at 2:48 of the opening frame.
Johnston buried a tic-tac-toe play from Roope Hintz and Mikko Rantanen on the power play. Utah tied it up at 8:11 with their own power-play goal, as Hayton tipped in a shot from the point by Mikhail Sergachev. Smith scored his first goal of the season, shorthanded at that, 32 seconds into the second period with a one-time blast from the left circle.
That goal was his first as a member of the Stars and his first since April 6 of last season. Still on the power play, Durzi would tie it 2-2 less than a minute later with a one-timer from the slot. At 7:04, Cooley gave Utah the lead with a one-timer from the bottom of the left circle, mere moments after Jamie Benn missed a wide-open chance at the other end.
Doan doubled the Utah lead at 18:06 with another power-play goal, on a scramble-drill at the top of the crease. 40 seconds later, Robertson brought the Stars to within one after a beautiful pass from Dumba found Robertson at the left post. Just over five minutes into the final 20 minutes, Schmaltz restored the two-goal lead for Utah with yet another power-play goal.
That goal was Schmaltz’s 19th of the season and Utah’s fourth power-play goal of the night. In the final minute of the game, Jamie Benn and the hometown fans thought that the Stars’ captain scored the 400th goal of his career, but it was overturned due to goaltender interference. In the 5-3 win, Utah outshot the Stars 34-24 and went a perfect 4-for-4 on the power play.
The Stars went 1-for-4 with the man advantage. Up Next Both teams are back in action on Monday night. The Stars will be in Detroit to take on the Red Wings , while Utah will be in Nashville to take on the Predators .
This article first appeared on The Hockey Writers and was syndicated with permission..
