DALLAS (KNTU) John Klingberg scored with 2:58 left in the first overtime, Ben Bishop made 47 saves, and the Dallas Stars took down the Nashville Predators 2-1 at the American Airlines Center on Monday, April 22, to advance to the second round of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The last time the Stars clinched a playoff series at home was in 2008 when they beat the San Jose Sharks 2-1 in quadruple overtime. That victory sent Dallas to the Western Conference Finals, where they came up short against the then-Western-Conference Detroit Red Wings in six games.
Dallas Cowboys stars Dak Prescott, Ezekiel Elliott, Troy, and mixed martial artist Chuck Liddell were among the celebrities in a sellout crowd of 19,025 who got their money’s worth.
Dallas moves on to play the St. Louis Blues in the second round. The two teams met in the second round of the playoffs in 2016, which Dallas lost in seven games, including a lopsided game seven. This time though, St. Louis has home-ice advantage.
Facing elimination, the Predators came out swinging. They outplayed the Stars early, outshooting Dallas 19-10 in the first period.
Nashville got on the board first at the 5:47 mark of the opening frame when forward Austin Watson found a rebound in front of the net and snapped it past Bishop. It was Watson’s first goal and second point of the postseason.
“I feel like every team that scored first in this series almost always lost,” said Bishop when asked about giving up the first goal. “So, I don’t think it really mattered.”
Bishop had a fantastic outing, stopping 47-of-48 shots, but that’s nothing different than what he’s done throughout the series. The Stars netminder went 4-2 with a 1.89 goals against average (GAA) and a .945 save percentage (SV%) over the six-game stretch.
The Stars evened things up early in the second period when Blake Comeau wired a wrister past Preds goaltender Pekka Rinne on a 3-on-1 odd-man rush. The goal was Comeau’s first of the postseason.
The Dallas penalty kill was a huge factor in the series. Nashville went 0-for-4 on the power play and 0-for-15 overall in the series. They are the only team out of the 16 playoff teams this year not to register a power-play goal.
After a back and forth third period, the game went to overtime for the second time this series. Both teams had multiple scoring chances in the extra frame, but at the 17:02 mark John Klingberg won it for the Stars on a wrist shot from the left circle after being fed on a cross-ice pass from Alexander Radulov.
“Heck of a shot,” said Stars forward Tyler Seguin. “It was pretty quick. (Klingberg) is a leader on this team.”
When asked about how it feels to win a playoff series as a first-year head coach, Stars coach Jim Montgomery gave his players all of the credit.
“Coaches don’t win anything. Players win it, and our players won it.”
The Stars will find out their second-round schedule against the Blues later this week after the conclusion of the remaining first-round games.
Croney’s Three Stars of the Game:
1. Ben Bishop: The Dallas netminder stopped 47-of-48 shots and made multiple game-saving stops to lead his team to victory.
2. John Klingberg: Klingberg recorded the game-winning overtime goal that sent the Stars to the second round.
3. Pekka Rinne: The Nashville goaltender was fantastic, stopping 49-of-51 shots and allowing only one goal in regulation.
