Canadian 2 – Stars 4 | The Stars score three times on the power play

(Dallas) The Canadiens found their bearings at five against five in the eyes of their coach, but he shot himself in the foot by accumulating the penalties on Friday night at the American Airlines Center.

Wyatt Johnston broke the tie in the third period by scoring the team’s third goal on the power play and the Dallas Stars defeated the Montreal team 4-2.

Michael Pezzetta and his partner on the fourth line Jake Evans, with his first goal of the season, put the Canadiens ahead 2-0. However, Pezzetta was in the dungeon when Johnston scored the winning goal.

“It was one of our best five-on-five games in a long time, but we gave five power plays to a well-functioning unit,” said Canadiens head coach Martin St-Louis.

Evgenii Dadonov had given way to Pezzetta in the formation of the Canadian.

“’Pezz’ is a guy who takes care of the team. It’s a punishment that hurts, but there were also tough calls tonight,” St-Louis said in defense of Pezzetta.

St-Louis had also revamped its lines, notably separating Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield for the first time this season. The result was not particularly convincing, but the head coach seemed satisfied.

“I liked pretty much everyone’s game,” insisted St-Louis. We were engaged. We were up against a good team. It’s nice to see our support players producing. I’m happy with our trios. »

Roope Hintz had a power play double for the Stars (20-9-6), while Jason Robertson had two assists. Joel Kiviranta added an empty-netter, while Jake Oettinger stopped 22 shots.

In front of the Canadiens net (15-16-3), Jake Allen made 32 saves.

The Canadian will take over the collar on December 28, when he makes the first stop of a four-game trip by visiting the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The battle of the special units

Evans opened the hostilities after 4:04 of play, scoring on the power play thanks to a breakthrough between the Stars defenders, then a nice fake in front of Oettinger.

All fired up, Evans returned to the charge a little later. Despite defender Ryan Suter’s cover on a one-on-one attack, Evans was able to challenge Oettinger, but he missed the target.

Evans then set the table for the shorthanded Pezzetta, but Oettinger made the save.

Pezzetta returned to the charge early in the second period. This time he beat Oettinger at 2:24 with a perfect shot.

Quietly, the Stars began to increase the pressure on the Canadian.

They finally cut the gap to 2-1 with 4:41 to go in the second period, on a power play. Hintz deftly deflected a throw-in from Jason Robertson into the goal.

The Stars then tied the game 2:27 into the third period, again on the power play. And again, a shot from Robertson deflected off Hintz’s stick before surprising Allen.

The Canadian’s goalkeeper preserved the impasse a little later with a nice save against Jamie Benn during an outnumbered attack by the Stars.

However, Johnston was the hero with 5:00 to go, while Pezzetta was in the penalty box for tripping a rival in the Stars’ zone.

Kiviranta completed the scoring in an empty net with 17 seconds left.

Rising

Michael Pezzetta

We’ll forgive him for his game-ending penalty, which led to the Stars’ third goal, because he still had a goal and an assist before that.

Falling

Jonathan Drouin

After a very good evening Wednesday in Denver, it was much more difficult this time.

The number of the match

3

Number of power play goals by the Stars, Friday night

Richard Labbe, The Press