NEW YORK – The Dallas Stars defeated the New York Rangers 5-4 at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday after twice coming back, including from a three-goal deficit, led by Jamie Benn’s goal on a power play 2:17 into overtime.
After Jason Robertson’s pass, Benn scored from the front of the net.
The Rangers had three assists from Artemi Panarin, two goals and an assist from Vincent Trocheck, and two goals from Alexis Lafreniere (18-20-2). Jonathan Quick lost his second try to become the first goalie born in the United States to reach 400 victories, after making 34 saves.
After falling behind 3-0 in the first period, the Stars rallied with goals from Matt Duchene, Evgenii Dadonov, and Robertson. Late in the third period, Thomas Harley scored the game-winning goal. Harley’s second goal of the game came from an assist on Benn’s goal. 22 saves were made by Jake Oettinger.
The Stars’ (25-13-1) winning and point streaks now stand at five and seven games, respectively. On Thursday, the first game of a five-game road trip began in Philadelphia.
The Rangers had three assists from Artemi Panarin, two goals and an assist from Vincent Trocheck, and two goals from Alexis Lafreniere (18-20-2). Jonathan Quick lost his second try to become the first goalie born in the United States to reach 400 victories, after making 34 saves.
Adam Fox, a defenseman for New York, stated, “You want to play a little better when you get that 3-0 lead, but you also want to be able to hang onto that when you get that 4-3 lead late.” It’s annoying. We’ve been playing hockey much better, in my opinion, but you have to take two things away from it. It could have been two points tonight, but one is better than none at all.
At 6:56 of the first, Lafreniere scored his first goal in 14 games and his second in 22 to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead. He scored high on Oettinger’s blocker side after receiving a drop feed from Panarin in the left circle.
At 9:55, Trocheck gave New York a 2-0 lead by deflecting Will Borgen’s shot past Oettinger.
At 11:24, Lafreniere made it 3-0 with a backhand shot into Oettinger’s five-hole after Trocheck and Panarin had set up a breakaway.
“They were dialed into the game,” remarked Rangers coach Peter Laviolette, referring to the Trocheck, Panarin, and Lafreniere back line. “They produced numerous opportunities. They were spot on.
At 12:57, Duchene cut New York’s lead to 3-1, sparking Dallas’ comeback. His effort to pass to Benn from the left circle went into the net off Urho Vaakanainen’s stick, and he remained onside at the left point.
At 15:56, it was 3-2 thanks to a power-play goal by Dadonov off a far post rebound of Mavrik Bourque’s right-circle shot.
In the first, the Stars beat the Rangers 19–8.
“Not the start I dreamt about last night, but I just felt like once they got that third one, I felt like we were getting a lot of chances and if I could keep it there then we would be able to tie it up,” Oettinger stated. “In the beginning, we had numerous opportunities. We hit a few posts after “Quickie” made some excellent saves. They were putting pressure on every opportunity they had. We believed that we would get more and more opportunities if we simply continued to play that way. We had to take charge, and we did.
At 13:14 in the second session, Robertson knotted the score at 3-3. He hoisted a backhand shot past Quick after coming around the left post and behind the net.
At 12:56 of the third, Trocheck scored a power-play goal on a netfront deflection of Mika Zibanejad’s high between-the-circles shot to give New York a 4-3 lead.
Harley was in the penalty box for a puck over the glass and delay of game penalty at the time.
Harley remarked, “It’s not a good feeling,”
However, Sam Steel’s hard forecheck forced K’Andre Miller to turn over the defensive zone, and Harley’s blast from the right circle at 17:21 made it 4-4.
“A lot better,” replied Harley. I’m glad it went in. Steel did a hell of a job beneath the bar and on the forecheck there. Everything worked out.
Twenty-five seconds into overtime, Panarin hooked Wyatt Johnston, earning him a call. Robertson found Benn in front for the redirection only nine seconds before the Rangers killed the penalty.
“Showed a lot of character and guts down 3-0 on the road,” DeBoer stated. “We didn’t panic, I thought. We persisted. Although I don’t believe the 3-0 deficit was well-earned, that was the hole we were in. We simply continued to fight and chip away. ‘It’s just not our night,’ would have been an easy way to say after they scored the fourth goal, but we continued coming back. Two crucial points.
