The Preds headed to Dallas to take on the Stars in the first half of a back-to-back.
Ty Dellandrea appeared to get the Stars on the board just a couple minutes in, but a quick offside review called it back. The Stars kept up the attack, though, and Jason Robertson set Roope Hintz up to score for real at 4:21.
While the teams were able to trade some zone time as the period continued, neither was able to get any kind of particularly dangerous pressure on the other, as the Preds kept the Stars to the outside to make up for their own offensive struggles. The score was still tied as the teams headed to intermission.
Jamie Benn took a penalty early in the second, giving the Preds a chance on the power play. It went nowhere, but the Preds were able to build briefly off of their advantage to get some more shots on Stars goalie Scott Wedgewood. This came to an end when Kevin Gravel took a penalty of his own.
A great penalty-killing effort from the Preds kept Saros from even having to make a save. Gravel, out of the penalty box, got the puck and outskated an oblivious Ryan Suter to get a shot on Wedgewood, who was able to make the save–Gravel wouldn’t have been my first choice for that play, but it was a great effort nevertheless.
The period deteriorated for the Preds a shift or two after that, as the Stars piled on the attack, getting a couple of posts before Colin Miller got another past Saros at 12:31. The Preds followed this up with another penalty, as John Leonard went for a trip and Joe Pavelski, subsequently, went for a goal. 3-0 Stars at 16:07 of the second.
Dallas got an extended 6v5 sequence as Dellandrea’s mouth appeared to collide with Spencer Stastney’s stick, with Stastney finally getting called for a double minor with 2:51 remaining in the period. On review, it was determined that Stastney hadn’t actually contacted Dellandrea with his stick, but instead that it had been face-to-glove contact, and the penalty was negated–though with no do-over for the 6v5, of course.
Tyson Barrie started the third off with another penalty–a real one, this time–putting the Stars back on the power play. This time the Preds were able to kill it off, but a general fracas later in the period led to Mark Jankowski, Dante Fabbro, and Dallas’s Colin Miller all taking a seat. Robertson tallied his hundredth point of the season with a goal on the ensuing power play–the first player in franchise history to do it since the move to Dallas.
With over 11 minutes to go, the game continued. Tyler Seguin scored to make it 5-0 Stars at 14:23. On the next shift, though, Luke Evangelista drew a penalty as he set Cal Foote up to score, breaking Wedgewood’s shutout. Dallas’s Thomas Harley then took a penalty, giving the Preds a chance on the power play.
The Preds were unable to score again, and the clock wound down. They return to Nashville to play the Vegas Golden Knights tomorrow.