DALLAS (KNTU) For two periods, Minnesota Wild goaltender Alex Stalock might as well have had a brick wall behind him. The Stars peppered the Minnesota netminder with 34 shots in the first forty minutes but had nothing to show for it on the scoreboard.
But when Stars forward Tyler Seguin beat Stalock with a slap shot 2:44 into the third period, the dam burst. Seguin scored again six minutes later, Tyler Pitlick added another goal at 12:01, and the Stars finished their 2018-19 regular season by shutting out the Minnesota Wild 3-0 on Saturday, April 6, at American Airlines Center.
“I think we played to our identity,” head coach Jim Montgomery said. “We possessed the puck a lot; created a lot of good chances. It was kind of bad luck to be stuck at 0-0 after two periods, but we stuck with it.”
Dallas finished the season 43-32-7, 93 points, clinching the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
The win also means the Stars know who they will play in the first round of the NHL playoffs. The Nashville Predators defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 5-2 earlier in the evening, clinching the Central Division. Dallas’ win guarantees that they’ll be in Nashville to start the postseason.
The Stars had mixed results against the Predators during the regular season, going 2-1-2 in five meetings.
But for much of the evening, the outcome in Dallas was uncertain.
Despite dominating play from the outset, the Stars couldn’t solve Stalock, who hardly looked like a goalie with a subpar .896 save percentage in 20 games.
Despite being outplayed, it appeared Minnesota would head into the second intermission with a 1-0 lead.
In the final minute of the second period, Wild defenseman–and former Star–Greg Pateryn blasted a shot from the right point that ricocheted off a Stars defender and past Stars goaltender Ben Bishop. Dallas immediately challenged the play for offsides. After a quick review, the call was overturned.
“We could see that one,” Montgomery said. “That one was pretty evident.”
Given the mulligan, the Stars came out on fire in the third period.
Pateryn took a penalty for tripping early in the frame, and Seguin cashed in with a one-timer from the top of the right circle that beat Stalock high glove side to give Dallas 1-0 lead.
Seguin scored his second goal at 8:55 of the third, backhanding a portly rebound past an out-of-position Stalock to make the score 2-0.
With the game well in-hand, Pitlick scored on another rotund rebound–created by Roope Hintz’s crashing the net–to give Dallas a 3-0 lead.
“[It was] having patience to trust each other–trust the process–that if we continue to play the right way good things are going to happen,” Montgomery said. “And we’ve been doing that for an extended period.”
The game also marked the return of Stars starting goaltender Ben Bishop, who missed the last four games with a lower-body injury. Just like in his previous return from injury, Bishop didn’t miss a beat, stopping all 24 shots for his seventh shutout of the season and sixth in his past 15 games.
“It was nice to get back in there,” Bishop said. “It felt good. I didn’t really feel like I missed much of a beat.”
Bishop’s .934 save percentage is the best in Stars franchise history and finished second in the NHL in goals-against average (1.98). Both are career highs.
“[Bishop’s] just been phenomenal,” Montgomery said. “He’s just in a zone. Let’s hope it goes for eight more weeks.”
The earliest Dallas will play is Wednesday. The NHL playoff schedule will be released on Sunday.
The Wild missed the playoffs for the first time in seven seasons.
