Stars ride elite effort by Khudobin, 'big goals' to skid-snapping shutout

Anton Khudobin has strung together two of the best games of his NHL career this week -- one he lost and one he won.
The difference between the outcomes was the play of his Dallas Stars teammates, who on Wednesday broke a six-game winless streak with a 3-0 victory over the Florida Panthers. While Khudobin might have been even better Wednesday with a 43-save shutout than he was Monday when he tied his career-best with 49 saves, the real key was a physical and smart performance from a motivated Stars squad.

"We played 60 minutes, and last game it felt like we played two really good periods," Stars coach Rick Bowness said of a second period breakdown Monday that led to a 3-1 loss to the Panthers.

"When we had some breakdowns (Wednesday), Dobby made some huge saves, but I thought we wanted to compete for 60 and we did that. That's a really good hockey team over there, so you know you're going to give up some chances, and Dobby was there when we needed him. But we kept playing our game."
The 12-4-2 Panthers still had a 43-26 advantage in shots on goal and a 67-42 edge in shot attempts (on goal, missed, and blocked), but the 6-4-4 Stars did a lot of things right. They won the battle of faceoffs, they had 38 hits, and they killed three penalties. They also finally got a couple of key goals -- both coming off the stick of defensemen.
John Klingberg took a nice pass from Joe Pavelski in the first minute of the game, walked in on net and fired a slapshot past Florida goalie Chris Driedger for a 1-0 lead at the 53 second mark. It was his third of the season and first in 10 games.

Klingberg said he really had no choice but to shoot because he was so wide open.
"If I have that much ice in front of me, I'm going to try to go rip it every time," he said. "I had a few of those chances in games before, so it felt good to see it go in."
It also felt good for Bowness, who has stressed getting offensive production from his defensemen since the playoffs last season.

"We have to have our D involved, we do," Bowness said. "They had two goals tonight. When it comes back to the defense, sometimes we're guilty of looking for another play and then deciding to shoot. Well, you can't, the league is too good. When the shot is there, we want them to take it right away. Esa (Lindell) had five shots tonight … we need that from our defense."
Lindell had 25 shots on goal in the first 13 games, so this was a big night for the defensive defenseman. His goal came just after a power play expired and gave the Stars a 2-0 lead two minutes into the third period.
"We talked about before the game that we want to play faster, and one way is when we funnel pucks (to the net)," Lindell said. "Earlier in the season, the D didn't have that many shots, so that's one thing we want to improve."

Lindell also played a significant role in keeping the front of the net clean -- as did Jamie Oleksiak. Oleksiak had four hits and Lindell three, while forwards Jason Dickinson and Radek Faksa each were credited with five. The physicality was important for the Stars because it helped keep them engaged and intense.
"It was intentional, and it's going to carry over to tomorrow," Lindell said of the final match in the three-game series with the Panthers. "I thought they were more physical in the first game, and I thought today we were. That's just one part of the game that we have to better at than them."
Of course, on Wednesday, the key place the Stars were better was in net. Khudobin carried over his fantastic play from Monday and simply was not going to allow a goal to be scored. It is his second shutout of the year and the 10th in his career.

Asked if Khudobin was even better than Monday, Bowness hesitated.
"I don't know if he was better … he was very good both nights, so it's hard to compare one to the other," Bowness said.
"He's making the saves right now when we need him to make the saves," Bowness added. "Here earlier, we weren't getting big goals and we weren't getting the big saves, and that's kind of why we went on that skid. Tonight, we were getting the big save, and finally we got that second goal when we needed it."
READ MORE: [Hintz sidelined for Stars' win over Panthers with lower-body injury]
And that's what made it such a team victory even in the glare of Khudobin's glow. With Roope Hintz
sidelined by a lower-body injury
, Radek Faksa played 18:43, won 14-of-21 faceoffs, had five hits and added an assist. Joe Pavelski logged 19:05 and had two assists. Jamie Benn moved from wing to center and soaked up a lot of defensive responsibility.
With 5:39 left in the game, the Stars' penalty kill stepped up and frustrated the Panthers, who pulled the goalie at one point trying to get within one goal.
"When you need that kill in the third period and you've got a two-goal lead, you need your penalty kill to come up big, and that's all that matters," Bowness said.

The Stars did a lot of things that mattered Wednesday, and now they get to turn around and try to repeat that performance Thursday. Dallas stopped the bleeding for one night and took a deep breath of fresh air. There are many challenges ahead, but they at least have a bit of a blueprint now on how to continue the climb upward.
"A win is a win … it's always great," said Khudobin. "You hear the music right now in the dressing room and it's always great."
It was the first time that music has played since Feb. 2, so every player understood just how important that was.

Up next

at Panthers; Thursday 6 p.m. CT
BB&T Center, Sunrise, Fla.
TV:FOX Sports Southwest PLUS
Radio:The Ticket 96.7-FM, 1310-AM
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mike Heikais a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika, and listen to his podcast.