DALLAS — The start of the second half delivered much of what the Stars were missing in the first half.
During a 6-1 win over Boston on Sunday night, the Stars received Alexander Radulov’s first goal in three months, Jamie Benn’s first point in 24 days, strong goaltending from Jake Oettinger and another two-goal night from Tyler Seguin on the eve of his 30th birthday.
The win was the Stars’ fifth in the last six games, and helped erase the taste of the team’s 5-0 loss to Washington on Friday night.
“That was probably the best game we played all year, at both ends of the ice,” Stars coach Rick Bowness said “Power play got a big goal, killed a penalty, but that’s what we need. We need the contributions from the other lines.”
Jake Oettinger finished with 25 saves on 26 shots, including a pair of key saves in the second period. First, he denied Steven Fogarty on the doorstep after Fogarty appeared to have a yawning cage to score into. Later, he stoned David Pastrnak on a feed from Patrice Bergeron.
Luke Glendening (on a tip of Miro Heiskanen’s shot) and Roope Hintz (on a power-play feed from John Klingberg) also scored to complement Seguin, Radulov and Benn’s four combined goals.
The win kicked off the second half of the season for the Stars, who finished the first 41 games of the season in 10th place in the Western Conference (by points percentage). Bowness addressed his team’s first half during Sunday’s morning skate.
“I told the guys this morning ‘We’re sitting here at 41 games and 46 points. If we do that again, that’s 92 points. You’re out of the playoffs. It’s not good enough,’” Bowness said. “We just have to keep pushing the bar.”
The Stars can take a big step towards qualifying for the postseason if they receive more depth scoring like they did on Sunday night.
Dallas has been carried by its top line of Hintz, Jason Robertson and Joe Pavelski this season, with little scoring behind its top trio. But Benn, Seguin and Radulov rewound the clock against Boston, and it was the first time since Feb. 21, 2019 that all three players scored in the same game.
In that win over St. Louis, Roman Polak, Brett Ritchie, Taylor Fedun, Jason Spezza and Mattias Janmark played for the Stars, and Jim Montgomery was the coach. The Stars played 188 regular-season games and 40 postseason games since Benn, Seguin and Radulov scored in the same game.
“We’re just trying to chip in and help Roope’s line a little bit,” Benn said. “We’ve all got to be much better than the first half.”
Before the game, Seguin discussed the team’s need to get more players involved offensively.
“I think if you look at everyone except the three guys that lead the way, especially as of late, everyone’s got a little bit more,” Seguin said. “Some guys maybe even a lot more. You look at the potential there, and you have excitement. Then you’ve also got to realize you’ve got to focus on yourself, look in your own mirror. That’s what I’m doing and trying to build on, especially as of late.
“We’re back into training camp, where we’ve got the pieces, we’ve got the roster in front of us. On paper, it looks great, but obviously paper doesn’t mean [squat].”
After Sunday’s game, Seguin now has 14 goals, which is fourth on the team behind the top line. Benn has 10 and Radulov has two.
Radulov had not scored since Oct. 27 against Vegas, when he tipped in his only goal of the season. Against Boston, Radulov was sprung on a breakaway by a nice pass from Esa Lindell. Radulov showed backhand before pulling it to his forehand and slipping the puck past Linus Ullmark.
“It’s always great to score, even it was a while that I couldn’t score,” Radulov said. “Always keep pushing and try to do the little things right for the team, for the W for the team. I knew that at some point, it’s going to turn around and go my way. Hopefully, I’m going to grab it and keep going.”
Radulov called the win “crucial.”
“We’re in the playoff race, so every point for us matters right now, especially when we play at home,” Radulov said. “We can’t afford to lose two in a row. I think everybody battled hard today and everyone comes up ready. We played Dallas Stars hockey and, eventually, paid off.”
Pavelski’s promotion: Joe Pavelski, the Stars’ only representative at the All-Star Game, will now captain the Central Division’s team after Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon had to pull out of the game due to an injury.
Nashville defenseman Roman Josi replaced MacKinnon on the Central Division roster.
“I was talking about it earlier, ‘Respect the elderly’ is what he told me,” Bowness said. “Good for him. That’s a great honor, and it’s a well-deserved honor. It’s the proper thing to do.”
Pavelski will be playing in his fourth All-Star Game, and his first since joining the Stars in 2019. The All-Star skills competition is Friday, and the All-Star Game is Saturday in Vegas.
Raffl update: Injured Stars forward Michael Raffl participated in morning skate on Sunday, but will likely not return to game action until after the All-Star break, coach Rick Bowness said.
Bowness labeled Raffl “very, very doubtful” to play Tuesday vs. Calgary in the team’s final game before the All-Star break. Raffl has not played since blocking a Marc Staal shot with his foot on Jan. 21 in Detroit.
Raffl remains on injured reserve.
