The Dallas Stars defeated the Calgary Flames in Game 2 of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Flames won Game 1 with a score of 3-2. Here is the recap of Game 2 between the Stars and Flames.
Scratches
Calgary: Alan Quine, Buddy Robinson, Artyom Zagidulin, Michael Stone, Zac Rinaldo, Austin Czarnik, Byron Forese, Jon Gillies, Oliver Kylington, Alexander Yelesin
Dallas: Jake Oettinger, Joel Hanley, Stephen Johns, Gavin Bayreuther, Thomas Harley, Jason Robertson, Nick Caamano, Ty Dellandrea, Joel Kiviranta, Landon Bow, Justin Dowling
1st Period
The Flames scored an early goal 19 seconds in from forward Dillon Dube. However, Stars forward Alexander Radulov scored a goal 2:23 after Dube’s goal. From there, the Stars took full control of the period and outshot the Flames 14-7. The Stars would get another goal from defenseman Miro Heiskanen 11:14 in the period to get the team’s first lead of the game.
Dallas went into the second period with a 2-1 lead.
2nd Period
Heiskanen again scored from a sharp angle just under five minutes into the period and extended the lead to two. But, the Flames would build up momentum and defenseman Derek Forbort cut the lead down to one. However, Stars forward Corey Perry retook his team’s one goal lead 2:05 after Forbort’s goal.
Dallas went into the third period with a 3-2 lead.
3rd Period
This was probably the most entertaining period in both games played so far. The Flames had this period on their hands scoring two more goals to tie the game. Flames forwards Tobias Rieder and Sam Bennett scored the Flames’ goals this period. However, the Flames made a bad line change and Stars forward Jamie Oleksiak scored the game winning goal with 39 seconds remaining.
Dallas won the game 5-4 and tied the series 1-1.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLJUUUscP6U]
Three Stars of the Game
Third Star: Jamie Oleksiak (1 goal)
Second Star: Corey Perry (1 goal, 1 assist)
First Star: Miro Heiskanen (2 goals)
Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk left the game during the third period from a collision with Stars forwards Jamie Oleksiak and Jamie Benn.
As mentioned earlier, both teams are evenly matched and this should continue to be an entertaining and interesting series. But, if the Flames can stick to a solid defensive game for 60 minutes then they should have a slight advantage during this series. On the other hand, the Stars are one of the grittiest defensive teams in the league. They’re willing to play physical to get the puck from their opponents and to the net.
Game 3 of the Stars-Flames series is on Aug. 14 at 10:30 pm EST.