Stars Win Seventh Straight, Take Down Habs in 2-1 Shootout Victory

The Dallas Stars narrowly beat the Montreal Canadiens in 2-1 victory in the shootout. It was the Stars seventh-straight win and marked the longest winning streak of Peter DeBoer's tenure in Dallas. The win also extended the Stars point streak to nine games with two games left to go on their road trip. It was the third time in the last four games that the Stars played past regulation time while it was the fourth straight game for the Habs.

Dallas goaltender Jake Oettinger reminded fans why he is one of the Stars most valuable players as he made stellar saves and finished with 30 total and just one goal allowed. It was also an impressive performance from Montreal netminder Sam Montembeault, who stopped 17 shots in the first period and helped keep the Habs in the game after making 34 saves on the night in an elite battle between two stellar goaltenders.

It was a quick first 20 minutes for the Stars as they mounted some chances including a wrap-around attempt by Mavrik Bourque that was just barely stopped by Sam Montembeault. The Habs netminder was peppered early, making 17 saves and stopping 15 quality scoring chances in the first period. Jason Robertson was looking to keep his hot streak alive and landed three shots early on.

Montreal did their best to establish their physical style of play with 12 hits and it seemed to faze Matt Dumba, who took a costly cross-checking penalty after battling with Montreal's Josh Anderson. Despite the chances, the period ended 0-0 with the Stars carrying most of the momentum into the second.

They continued to keep up the pressure but Montreal used the intermission period to come back stronger and played a much better second period. The Habs finally broke the ice after Dumba takes another costly penalty that put Montreal on the power play. Things got worse when Colin Blackwell took a tripping penalty and gave the Habs a five-on-three man advantage.

They capitalized after cycling the puck around and creating a set-up play that was very reminiscent of an Alex Ovechkin legendary one-timer. They work the puck around until Nick Suzuki dishes the puck to Patrik Laine, who fires home a quick one-timer past Oettinger for the game's first goal. It was Laine's ninth goal of the season with all each goal coming on the man advantage.

They keep up the pressure but when minutes later, Lane Hutson trips and falls while pinching from the blue line, it creates an opening for the Stars. Jamie Benn and company work the puck in for a quick two-on-one opportunity that the captain ends up firing through an opening short side and top shelf past Montembeault for the game-tying goal. The goal extended Benn's point streak to five games.

The game was tied once again going into intermission with Montreal gaining momentum with 12 quality scoring chances compared to Dallas' seven and each side generating three high-danger chances in the second period. The last 20 minutes was close for the first few minutes but Montreal got an opening to continue to build steam after Bourque recieved a questionable slashing penalty. The Stars were able to kill it off with their league-best penalty kill, operating at 85 per cent entering Saturday.

The 60-minute time frame wasn't enough as this game needed overtime with the Habs tilting the ice to even or slightly in their favour with a solid effort in the third period. Dallas had many scoring chances like Wyatt Johnston working a saucer pass over to Matt Duchene for a wide-open shot on net that Duchene tries to quick shot but was moving too fast and airmails the puck over the net. Montreal also saw chances like Cole Caufield bursting on a fast break and firing a quick wrister that goes off the post and out.

They needed a shootout to decide the game and once again Robertson bailed the Stars out with a goal while Oettinger stopped all Habs shooters to seal the victory. The Stars will look to stay hot and win their eighth-straight when travelling to Ottawa Sunday to take on the Senators in a back-to-back above the border.

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