Stars 5 – Penguins 2
American Airlines Arena, Dallas
Brent Johnson has been the Penguins best net-minder this season. His numbers speak to how well he has played. His performance against the Dallas Stars Wednesday night, however, is not indicative of how has played thus far. In a chippy game that saw both captains drop the gloves, the Penguins fell behind early and could never recover. The Penguins lost their first road game of the season in regulation despite welcoming back defenseman Zbynek Michalek after missing nine games with a shoulder injury.
GAME FLOW
Just eight minutes in, the Pens were down 2-0. Tyler Kennedy cut the deficit in half with a goal just over six minutes into the second period. Steve Ott’s goal four minutes later made it 3-1 and 59 seconds later, Loui Eriksson scored on a beautiful penalty shot. Eriksson scored his second in the third period. Matt Cooke added a tally late to finish the scoring.
SCORE SHEET
Goals: Penguins- Kennedy (3), Cooke (3). Dallas- Robidas (2), Richards (4), Ott (3), Eriksson (6,7)
Assists: For the Pens, Talbot and Michalek had an assist each. The Stars got assists from Morrow, Benn, Neal, Eriksson, Robidas and Ribeiro.
SPECIAL TEAMS
The Penguins power play was 0-for-4 and they are now 0 for their last 27, including a 1:37 five-on-three where the team managed just two shots against the NHL’s worst ranked PK. The penalty killing was perfect for the Pens as they killed five Dallas power plays.
IN THE NET
Brent Johnson had his first mortal game of the season and allowed the most goals by a Pens goalie this season, stopping 24 of 29 shots. Kari Lehtonen made some outstanding saves to keep the Pens from gaining momentum. He finished with 21 saves on 23 shots.
UP NEXT
The Pens continue their road trip as they head to Anaheim to take on the Ducks Friday night at the Honda Center.
