Jake Oettinger made 23 saves as the Dallas Stars earned a 2-1 shootout victory over the visiting St. Louis Blues on Thursday in the season opener for both teams.
Jamie Benn scored the regulation goal for the Stars, and Jason Robertson and Matt Duchene converted in the shootout.
Defenseman Tyler Tucker scored for the Blues, and goaltender Jordan Binnington stopped 33 of 34 shots. Brayden Schenn had St. Louis’ only successful attempt in the shootout, with Jordan Kyrou’s failed attempt ending the tiebreaker.
The Stars outshot the Blues 10-6 in a scoreless first period, but St. Louis earned a few good scoring chances. Robert Thomas got a snap shot off left wing on a three-on-one rush and Justin Faulk fired a shot from the slot off a three-on-two rush, but Oettinger turned away both.
Dallas believed it took a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal with 12 seconds left in the first period, when Mason Marchment deflected Wyatt Johnston’s shot from the left faceoff dot. However, the Blues successfully challenged the goal for an offside violation to keep the game at 0-0.
Benn scored 18 seconds into the second period when he came out from behind the net to convert a stuff shot.
Tucker tied the game 1-1 just 2:19 later by scoring from the high slot off Jakub Vrana’s back pass.
Both goaltenders made big saves to keep the game tied after two periods. Binnington slid to the left to deny Joe Pavelski from five feet out, and Oettinger denied Oskar Sundqvist on a two-on-one short-handed rush.
Dallas controlled most of the third period but failed to break the tie. The Stars’ best chance came when defenseman Nils Lundkvist hit the inside of the right post while moving in from right wing with 7:36 left.
The Stars also controlled the overtime, too, but Binnington stopped Robertson’s shot from the left circle, Miro Heiskanen’s clean break-in and Robertson’s shot off a two-on-one rush to force the shootout.
–Field Level Media
