First Period
Another season begins and these Central Division rivals start their first meet-up of the season by feeling one another out. The first penalty goes to Ben Chiarot as he gets called for tripping 4:49 into the first. Moments later, Brandon Tanev pushes his way into the Stars’ zone and scores shorthanded. The goal is immediately waved off for goalie interference, the Jets do not challenge. The Stars lead the scoring at 9:23 into the first. Dallas’ top line is all over the ice, Alexander Radulov tosses the puck towards the net at a bad angle, it hits Tyler Myers and sneaks past Connor Hellebuyck. Dallas’ second is a power play goal and comes courtesy of Tyler Seguin less than three minutes later.
Things start to get a bit rough during the second half of the first period. Towards the end of the first, Connor Carrick rushes Mark Scheifele after the whistle and Dustin Byfuglien charges in and hits Carrick from behind.
Carrick learned pretty quickly not to take shots at #NHLJets Scheifele after the whistle. #BuffTrain pic.twitter.com/VqYnIH4GtE
— Michael Remis (@mremis) October 7, 2018
After the last puck drop, Adam Lowry and Brett Ritchie drop the gloves. A pretty even match, both get a few good punches in, both are handed 5 minutes for fighting, and the period ends with the Stars up 2-0. Hoo boy – this is going to be a doozie.
Second Period
Kyle Connor leads the scoring into the second period. After a bit of give and go with Josh Morrissey and Jacob Trouba, Connor positions himself all alone in front and whips one past Ben Bishop. Side note: this kid is so fun to watch.
What a shot by @KyleConnor18. pic.twitter.com/PeuMXTBOhW
— NHL GIFs (@NHLGIFs) October 7, 2018
Dallas heads back to the power play after Byfuglien gets called for holding the stick. The Stars capitalize. Jason Spezza originally gains the zone and Jamie Benn positions himself right in front of Hellebuyck and jams it in for their second PPG of the game and regain their two goal lead. The Jets continue to struggle to get things going and at the end of the second, the shots are 31-18 and score is 3-1 in favour of Dallas.
Third Period
Winnipeg maintained some sustained pressure on their first power play, though they aren’t able to make the best of it. The Jets continue to hold this momentum until Myers takes a high sticking call. Benn scores his second of the game with the redirect from Seguin.
With 7:19 left in the third, Radulov beats out Jacob Trouba and Bryan Little behind the net, sends it off to Seguin who makes no mistake in putting his second behind Hellebuyck. Final score 5-1 Dallas and a whole lot of questions from Jets fans.
Post-Game Thoughts
- The Jets got their feet back into the third period but it was too little too late. Unnecessary penalties and poor defensive positioning cost them this game.
- #FreeNiku
— ryan (@rblight18) October 7, 2018
