Goaltender Jake Oettinger beat Arizona for the first time, Radek Faksa scored twice in Dallas’ three-goal first period, and the Stars opened their eight-game homestand with a 4-0 blanking of the Coyotes on Saturday night.
In his 35th outing this season, Oettinger (21-7-4) stopped 33 shots for his sixth career shutout, fourth this season and second this week. He is 8-2-1 in his past 11 decisions.
Jamie Benn recorded his ninth power-play goal, 19-year-old Wyatt Johnston netted for the 12th time, and Miro Heiskanen had two assists for the Stars, who beat Arizona for the 15th time in the past 18 contests (15-2-1).
All three Dallas victories this week were by a 4-0 margin.
Playing in their league-high 29th road game, the Coyotes went 0-for-3 on the power play and lost for the 23rd time on the road (6-20-3). They are 1-11-0 in the past 12 matches overall and have dropped their last 15 away from home (0-13-2).
After surrendering three goals on 10 shots and being pulled on Nov. 3 in a home loss to Dallas, netminder Connor Ingram had another chance against the Stars. But he turned in the exact same showing in the game’s first 13:17 as Arizona trailed 3-0.
In the first of four home games before the NHL All-Star break, the Stars jumped all over the Coyotes inside the first five minutes. Faksa, the fourth-line center, took advantage of a friendly rebound less than three minutes in by collecting Denis Gurianov’s shot that was stopped by Ingram and potted it at 2:36.
Shortly thereafter late in the match’s first power play, Benn redirected a shot by Jason Robertson for his 18th tally at 4:52 and a 2-0 lead.
At 13:17, Faksa gave the Stars a 3-0 lead — its fourth straight game with that margin — by popping in his second rebound goal and sixth tally overall.
In the second on the Coyotes’ power play, Oettinger was at his best while under constant fire. He made splendid point-blank saves on Clayton Keller, Nick Schmaltz and Nick Ritchie after Luke Glendening’s delay-of-game penalty at 8:11.
Five minutes later, Oettinger stretched out for a right skate-save to barely stop Michael Carcone’s breakaway attempt at the left post.
But any optimism Arizona may have gained disappeared a minute later when Johnston chipped in a pass by Heiskanen, giving the defenseman a career-high 32 helpers.
–Field Level Media