DALLAS — As Luke Glendening streaked up the ice in concert with Michael Raffl, you could hear the refrain echo from the past few years of Rick Bowness’ tenure as the Stars’ head coach: “We create offense from defense.”
Glendening dove to disrupt Roman Josi’s offensive bid in the Dallas zone, and transformed his belly sprawl into the game-winning goal during the Stars’ 4-3 win over the Predators on Wednesday night. Glendening laid out to squib the puck to neutral ice, then joined Raffl on the rush before finishing past Juuse Saros.
The goal gave the Stars a win in the first game after the All-Star break, and capped a contentious night at the American Airlines Center.
Jason Robertson scored twice on the power play for the Stars, who also received a goal from Roope Hintz on a slick backhand finish during the second period. Jake Oettinger made 20 saves. Eeli Tolvanen, Matt Duchene and Yakov Trenin scored for the Predators.
Wednesday was the first time in three months that the Stars played the Predators, and Nashville beat Dallas into a players-only meeting during the teams’ first meeting in November. The two teams have also developed a rivalry in recent seasons — from the first-round playoff series in 2019 to the Winter Classic, to the season-opening blowout win by the Stars last year and the meetings down the stretch in 2021 that earned the Predators a playoff spot.
There were six penalties in the first 10:46 of the game, including a scuffle borne of Trenin’s hit on John Klingberg in the corner. Trenin elbowed Klingberg in the face, then was greeted by Stars captain Jamie Benn at the net-front. Trenin got two minutes for elbowing; Benn, two for roughing.
For most of Wednesday’s game, the number of combined hits was greater than the total number of shots on goal.
“Because we’re out of the playoffs, we have to play playoff-style hockey and intensity is a big part of that,” Bowness said Wednesday morning. “We’ve got a lot of ground to catch up. We’re sitting on the outside looking in, so it’s up to us to bring that intensity and that emotion. It’s got to be a playoff-style of play like we played against Boston, not like we played against Calgary.”
In building a 4-3 lead against Nashville, the Stars led by one goal four different times. The first one lasted 5:43 before Tolvanen snuck a screened shot by Oettinger. The second one lasted 19 seconds before Duchene was left alone in front of the crease. The third one lasted 1:52 before Trenin whacked home a puck during a net-mouth scramble.
Bowness challenged the play for goaltender interference, but the ruling on the ice was upheld, giving Nashville a power play after the goal.
Since the NHL penalized incorrect challenges with delay-of-game penalties beginning in 2019, the Stars (and video coach Kelly Forbes) are 3 for 7 on goaltender interference challenges. This season, the Stars are 0 for 2 on goaltender interference challenges (the other was in San Jose in December), and 1 for 1 on offside challenges.
While Glendening’s goal was set up by his effort in the defensive zone, the other Stars goals were not.
Robertson was a wizard at the net-front, tipping a Klingberg shot in the first period and deflecting a Klingberg shot in the second period. Both goals came on the power play. Hintz’s goal came after the Predators bungled the puck at their own blue line, clearing Hintz to break in alone on Saros. Hintz faked a shot, then beat the All-Star netminder with a backhand.
The win started a pivotal stretch of games for the Stars, who face Central Division opponents in their next seven games. Dallas entered Wednesday in 10th place in the Western Conference, out of a playoff spot.
Healthy again: For the first time in two months, the Stars are a completely healthy team.
On Wednesday night, they welcomed Raffl and Joel Kiviranta, and goaltender Braden Holtby back to the lineup. Additionally, Robertson (who missed Tuesday’s practice with an eye infection) played against Nashville.
It was the first time since Dec. 9 at Los Angeles that the Stars have been free of injury- or COVID-related absences.
“It gets our lines back where we’re comfortable with the four lines we have,” Stars coach Rick Bowness said before the game. “That’s the makeup we need. Take a couple guys out of there, now you’re moving guys around and it’s part of the NHL, you play with injuries and you play through them. It’s a better feeling knowing we’ve got the lines going into tonight’s game where we want them.”
Raffl played for the first time since Jan. 21 in Detroit, when he blocked a shot with his foot. Before Wednesday’s game, Raffl said his foot felt “good enough.”
“I was staying here [during the All-Star break], doing my rehab,” Raffl said. “Obviously, it helped take a little bit of pressure off coming back, having that extra week to recover and work on the foot and some other stuff.”
Kiviranta and Holtby each missed the last game before the All-Star break due to lower-body injuries. Kiviranta went back on a line with center Jacob Peterson and right wing Alexander Radulov, while Holtby backed up Jake Oettinger.
Tanner Kero and Andrej Sekera were healthy scratches. Since the All-Star break is over, there are no more taxi squads around the league.
