The Utah Hockey Club and Dallas Stars played the first game of their four-game season series on Monday night at the Delta Center. Utah came into this one looking to win back-to-back games for the first time since Oct. 12, whereas the Stars were looking to extend their win streak to three games after beating the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday night.
At the end of the night, Utah dominated most of the play. However, this is not a game where Money Puck’s ‘Deserve To Win O’Meter‘ did not align with the final score, as the Stars came out with a 2-1 victory.
Casey DeSmith Goalies Utah HC
From the opening puck drop, Utah controlled the play. After the first five minutes of the game, they were leading the scoring chances 6-1, and after the first 10 minutes, they were leading the high-danger chance category 3-0 over the Stars. While the Stars found their legs late in the first period to even these chances up after one period, Utah would go on to dominate the puck the rest of the game, outshooting the Stars 35-21, having 12 high-danger chances to the Stars seven and won the expected goal battle 3.05-2.35.
Related: Utah HC: Has Nick Schmaltz Lost His Scoring Touch?
Despite Utah’s great offensive effort, they could not solve Casey DeSmith until midway through the third period when Nick Schmaltz went bar down on a great wrist shot from the slot for his second goal. Schmaltz scored his first goal in Utah’s most recent game against the Vegas Golden Knights. He is a guy Utah has needed to get going for quite some time, given he has scored 20 goals or more in three straight seasons. His scoring his second goal in as many games is the silver lining for this Utah team tonight. Utah has been desperately looking for secondary goal-scoring. Schmaltz has typically been the guy they have relied on for that, and if he can get hot, Utah could be much improved offensively in December.
However, DeSmith was the star of the show in the Stars net. He saved 33 of the 34 shots he faced for a .971 save percentage. In addition, he stopped all seven of the high-danger chances he faced and saved 2.05 goals above expected. This was a performance the Stars needed from their backup goalie. Jake Oettinger has been phenomenal for the Stars. However, DeSmith had struggled recently, losing four straight games he started and allowing four or more goals in all four of those starts. With the Minnesota Wild and Winnipeg Jets leading the Central Division and having Vezina Trophy candidates in their net, the Stars will need both of their goalies winning games to keep pace in the division.
Stars Score Two Timely Goals in Win Over Utah
Dallas opened the scoring seven minutes into the second period. The goal came on the powerplay and was scored by Evgenii Dadonov. The goal came on a quick short-side wrist shot, and Dadonov made it look like he was surveying his passing options but ultimately decided to shoot, beating Karel Vejmelka’s blocker on a shot that he should have saved.
Then, with less than one minute on the clock late in the second period, Utah and Dallas lined up for a faceoff in the Stars defensive end. The Stars would win this faceoff and catch Utah off guard by having Sam Steel chase down a flipped puck by Esa Lindell. This created a simple zone entry for Sam Steel, who made a great pass to the slot, finding Jamie Benn wide-open, who beat Vejmelka’s glove.
The Stars’ second goal came with 43 seconds left in the second period. Despite being hemmed in the defensive end much of the night, the Stars capitalized on Utah’s significant lack of focus on this second goal. All five Utah defenders were back in the defensive zone when the goal was scored. However, none of them picked up Benn in the most dangerous area of the ice.
While the ‘Deserve To Win O’Meter’ had Utah winning this game 58.4% of the time, there was something to this game that the stats can’t quantify. The Stars showed why they are one of the best teams in the NHL by weathering the storm in a game where they did not have their best legs and still finding a way to give their goalie a chance to steal them a win. A red-hot goalie will win you a lot of games in this league. Utah will not have to wait long for their chance at revenge as these two teams square off again at the Delta Center on Dec. 23.
