Dallas Stars rout Flyers 6-2, Clinch First Playoff Berth Since 2016

Anton Khudobin stopped 32 of 34 shots, Alexander Radulov recorded a four-point game for the second time in his NHL career, and Mats Zuccarello tallied an assist in his first game back since Feb. 24 as the Dallas Stars punched their ticket to the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2016.

The Dallas Stars were hungry for a victory on Tuesday night, and they got one. But, it was more than just a win; it was a golden ticket to the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs, a dream that the Stars had been looking for all season long and had not seen since three years ago.

Stars Captain Jamie Benn was playing on a line with Roope Hintz and Mats Zuccarello.

Zuccarello, who missed the last 17 games with a broken wrist (that he suffered in his Stars’ debut on Feb. 24 against Chicago), had an assist on a beautiful between-the-legs goal by Esa Lindell on a Stars powerplay in the first period.

"“He’s the best passer on our team,” Head Coach Jim Montgomery said of Zuccarello. “He moves the puck around. He makes everyone around him better. Now we have two lines that can get out and score, and we have a third and fourth line that are hard to play against. It brings balance to our squad.”"

Zuccarello did not play at all in the second half of the final reason for precautionary reasons.

Jason Dickinson also got on the scoreboard and recorded the opening goal of the game just 1:34 into the first period. It was his first goal since Dec. 3.

After Dickinson and Lindell got the ball rolling, the Stars offense sputtered for the remainder of the period and for most of the second period. Oskar Lindblom got the Flyers on the board at 1:16 into the second period, and shortly after that, Flyers’ defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere evened the score with a powerplay goal from the point.

Alexander Radulov scored on the powerplay with a backhand shot that got past goaltender Cam Talbot with 3:21 left in the middle period to bring the score to 3-2. Two minutes later, Tyler Pitclick (who was in his first game back in the AAC after suffering an injury) banged home a pass from Hintz on the 4-on-4 to double Dallas’ lead.

Like the first period, Dallas headed into the intermission with a two-goal lead.

The third period was all Dallas. Not only did the Stars outshoot the Flyers 17-10 in the final frame, but the Stars went on a tear halfway through the period, scoring two goals in the span of ten seconds. The first was a sharp-angle shot from Blake Comeau that snuck past Talbot to give the Stars a three-goal lead. The tally was Comeau’s seventh goal of the season

The second was a play set up by Jason Dickinson, who drove to the net and set up Radulov, who rifled home the puck in front of the net to bring the lead to four goals.

The Stars shined bright in the American Airlines Center, and the Dallas Stars will get a chance to reap the benefits of their hard work over the 2018-19 season in the playoffs.

"“It feels good,” Stars captain Jamie Benn said to Stars’ Inside Edge Mark Stepneski. “We put in a lot of hard work and definitely deserve to be in the playoffs. It was definitely nice to get it done and get it clinched here at home in front of our fans.”"

What do you think, Stars fans? Will the Dallas Stars make an impressive run in the playoffs? Let us know in the comment section below!

• Published on 04/03/2019 at 16:36 PM
• Last updated at 04/03/2019 at 16:38 PM