It might have been a Festivus for the rest of us, but for the Dallas Stars it was a chance to send a message to the best in the West heading into the Holiday break. The Stars were 0-2 against the Central Division-leading Nashville Predators heading into Saturday's game. But after Thursday's 4-0 win over Chicago, the Stars felt ready to take the next step.
It wouldn't be easy. They didn't do themselves any favors falling behind 2-0, but then Tyler Seguin scored his team-leading 17th goal of the season on the power-play to cut the lead in half.
Then, early on in the second period the game got a serious dose of warm-fuzzies when Senior Airman USAF Zachary Klempel surprised his family, returning home for the holidays during a TV timeout in the second period.
The Stars rallied in the second period scoring two more goals thanks to Antoine Roussel's amazing play, batting the puck out of mid air and into the net...
Then, Martin Hanzal followed up Gemel Smith's wrist shot and put in the rebound on his backhand to give the Stars a 3-2 lead.
The game was all tied up heading into overtime when once again the Dallas Stars didn't do themselves any favors by taking not one, but TWO penalties. Somehow Dallas was able to kill off the penalties to send the game into a shootout.
First up for the Stars, #47 Alexander Radulov with a sweet forehand to backhand move...
Then with the game on his stick, it was up to #91 Tyler Seguin......
On a side note, throughout the night the Stars game presentation department had a little fun with Nashville, as their nickname is "Smashville" they thought it might be fun to play Smashmouth. Not once, but ALL NIGHT. Different version of the song "All-Star" blared from the speakers at the AAC and after the game Stars' captain Jamie Benn had this to say....