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 And in a win that wasn't pretty, center Jason Spezza scored the
game-winning goal and goaltender Antti Niemi stopped 23 of 24 shots
as the Stars defeated the Calgary Flames 2-1 at American Airlines
Center on Monday.
"It wasn't a good month for us," Spezza said. "We just got away from
things for a little bit. Breaks can be helpful."
Spezza netted the eventual winner 4:03 into the second period and
1:20 after Stars left winger and captain Jamie Benn broke a
scoreless tie. Spezza scored his 17th of the season on a tap-in at
the far post.
Flames center Mikael Backlund attempted to clear the puck from
behind the Calgary goal but Stars defenseman John Klingberg
intercepted his pass. Klingberg spotted Spezza open at the far post
and fed him on a bang-bang play.
"Oh, it's really good [to win heading into the break], you don't
want to even struggle through a game like this," Stars coach Lindy
Ruff said. "A 2-0 game became a 2-1 [game] with 17 minutes left to
play, and I thought for the most part we were doing a pretty good
job, but we took some penalties. Even the penalty with 10 seconds
[left] is a penalty we don't want to take. Those are issues we've
got to clean up."
Center Joe Colborne scored the lone goal for Calgary (21-23-3),
which lost for the third time in its past four games. The Flames
have one more game, on Wednesday against Nashville, before starting
the All-Star break.
"Joe is very good around the net. He has a big body, uses his body
well to gain inside position on defenders. It was a great play,"
Flames coach Bob Hartley said of Colborne.
Flames right winger Michael Frolik had the first real scoring chance
of the game when he capitalized on a Klingberg turnover near the
Calgary blue line 3:02 into the game. However, Frolik was unable to
convert on the breakaway as Niemi turned away his wrist shot with a
pad save.
"He was awesome," Stars defenseman Alex Goligoski said of Niemi.
"He's the reason why we win tonight."
Dallas outshot Calgary 9-3 in the scoreless first period.
Early in the second, the Stars broke the game open with two goals in
the first 4:03 of the period. Benn broke the deadlock with his 28th
goal of the season 2:43 into the middle frame.
"Yeah, I thought Jamie [Benn] skated well, physically won some
battles," Ruff said. "His legs were moving again. He seemed a
different player for me tonight."
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Benn received a backhand pass from right winger Valeri Nichushkin in
the slot, then forced Flames defenseman Kris Russell to dive to the
ice. Benn then maneuvered around Flames goaltender Karri Ramo, who
stopped 28 of 30 shots, and tucked a backhand inside the near post.
"Val [Nichushkin] just made a pretty good pass, and a couple of
moves and just had to slide it in there," Benn said of his goal.
Dallas led 2-0 after two periods and was outshooting Calgary 23-14.
The Flames wasted little time cutting the Dallas lead in half in the
third period when Colborne scored his seventh of the season 1:49
into the final frame. Colborne sent a wrist shot top shelf to the
far post after center Jiri Hudler fed him perfectly with a backhand
pass from behind the Dallas goal.
Ramo headed to the bench with 59 seconds remaining but Calgary
couldn't find the equalizer, even after going on the power play with
9.4 seconds remaining when Stars center Cody Eakin was whistled for
hooking.
"We kind of woke up too late to play," Ramo said. "The third period
was good but it's too late. Against a team like that, you have to
start pushing right away. I don't think that was our best game."
NOTES: The Flames scratched LW Brandon Bollig, LW Mason Raymond and
D Ladislav Smid. ... Stars LW Travis Moen, D Patrik Nemeth and D
Jamie Oleksiak, on a conditioning assignment with AHL Texas, were
scratched. ... Flames G Karri Ramo started the second game of a
back-to-back for just the second time this season. ... Dallas played
its final game before the NHL All-Star break. ... Calgary will host
the Nashville Predators on Wednesday before starting its break. ...
Stars G Antti Niemi started his third consecutive game. ... The
Flames, coming off a 5-2 loss at Carolina on Sunday, did not hold a
morning skate. ... The clubs met for the third and final time in the
regular season. ... Stars assistant coach James Patrick and
goaltending coach Jeff Reese are both former Flames players.
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