Banged-up Stars earn point in OT loss to Predators

The banged-up Dallas Stars couldn't grind out a win Saturday afternoon, but they did pick up one point against the top team in the Western Conference, falling 5-4 in overtime to the Nashville Predators at American Airlines Center.
But it was a tough loss for the Stars, who had a 3-1 lead going into the third period, saw the Predators tie the game on a power-play goal in the final minute, and then win after the Stars couldn't cash in on a 4-on-3 power play in overtime.
Just after the Stars misfired on the power play in OT, Predators defenseman Mattias Ekholm, who had been in the penalty box, took a cross-ice pass from Kyle Turris and scored from the left circle at the 2:27 mark.
"It's a disappointing loss for us -- I thought we deserved a better fate," said Stars center Jason Spezza. "That one stings a little bit for sure."

SPEZZ-CIAL DAY: [Stars honor veteran center Spezza for reaching 1,000-game milestone]
The Stars had eight players out with injury or illness Saturday, including five of their defensemen, so the Dallas blue line was young and consisted of four players with 22 or fewer games of NHL experience.

"You could tell that we were young on the backend," said Stars coach Jim Montgomery. "We weren't as crisp on a lot of things, but I liked the fight. I thought a lot of the defenseman played really well for us tonight and it's just too bad that we couldn't hold on to the lead."
Defensemen Roman Polak was the latest player to go out for the Stars. Polak was ruled out Saturday due to illness, so the Stars recalled 20-year-old Ben Gleason from the Texas Stars. The Stars got one assist and 18:13 of ice time from Gleason in his NHL debut and 18:56 of ice time from Joel Hanley, who was recalled from the AHL on Friday after John Klingberg went out with a hand injury.
"I think that's what makes it so hard. It would have been such a great game to win with how those guys came in," said Spezza. "Gleason found out this morning, Hanley just got here. They battled and played hard. It would have been a feel-good moment for us to win the game. That's one of the best teams in the league. We played with them and should have won tonight. That should springboard us knowing with the injuries we have we can still compete every night and be good. There's no lying - it would be much better to finish with a win tonight."
Forward Denis Gurianov, recalled earlier in the week from the AHL because of injuries to wingers Alexander Radulov and Brett Ritchie, scored his first NHL goal in the game. Tyler Pitlick, Tyler Seguin, and Spezza also scored goals for the Stars who fell to 9-6-2 on the season. Rookie defenseman Miro Heiskanen carried a big load on defense, logging 29:26 of ice time in the game. Ben Bishop stopped 29 of 34 shots.
Ryan Johansen and Roman Josi both had one goal and one assist for the Predators who won their fifth straight game and improved to 13-3-0 on the season, including 8-0-0 on the road.

"I think the way we have played these games on the road speaks for itself. We just don't give up," said Ekholm. "We just dug one out pretty much. Strong third period and character by all the guys to stick with it."
The Predators had some early pressure, the game's first power play, and a 10-2 shots advantage 12 minutes into the game, but a strong shift by Dallas' third line produced the game's first goal. Pitlick forced a turnover behind the Nashville net and then took a pass from Radek Faksa before scoring from the slot to put the Stars up 1-0 at the 13:05 mark of the first period.
Nashville tied the game 1-1 just 12 seconds into the second period after Julius Honka turned over the puck in the neutral zone to Nashville's Ryan Hartman, who scored from the left circle off the rush.
But Honka helped put the Stars up 2-1 at 6:47 of the second, slipping around Predators forward Fredrick Gaudreau along the right boards, pinching deep in the zone and sending the puck across the crease to Seguin, who scored from the bottom of the left circle.
The Stars got their first chance on the power play a little more than six minutes later to push their lead to 3-1. After Esa Lindell put a shot on net from the point, Predators goaltender Juuse Saros poked the puck out of the crease, and Spezza hammered it into the net from the left circle at 14:32 of the second.

The Predators tied the game 3-3 with two goals in the first 1:54 of the third period. Ryan Johansen scored off the rebound of a Roman Josi backhand shot off the rush at the 17 second mark to cut the Dallas lead to one, and then a Yannick Weber shot from the point deflected off traffic and into the net at 1:54 of the third.
But the Stars bounced back to take the lead at the 8:58 mark when Gleason put a shot on goal from the right point that Gurianov deflected past Saros to make it a 4-3 game.
"It was a nice shot by Gleason," Gurianov said. "I tried to go to the front, and I tipped it."
"I knew (he tipped it)," Gleason said. "I am glad he scored, and I was glad to be a part of it."
Nashville tied the score 4-4 late with a power-play goal from Josi. With Saros on the bench for an extra attacker and Esa Lindell in the box for slashing, Josi scored from the right circle with 42.5 seconds remaining to send the game to overtime where the Stars missed on a power play and Ekholm would tally to give Nashville the win.

Turning point

The Stars had a 4-3 lead late in the game but Stars defenseman Esa Lindell took a slashing penalty with 1:39 remaining to put Nashville on a power play. With Predators goaltender Juuse Saros out of the net for an extra attacker, it was a six-on-four advantage for Nashville. Ryan Johansen made a slick pass through the crease to Roman Josi, who scored from the right circle to tie the game.

Three stars of the game

Ryan Johansen, Nashville: One goal and a great play on the game-tying goal that got the Predators to overtime.
Miro Heiskanen, Dallas: Stepped up big time on the blue line. Played almost half the game for the Stars, logging 29:26 of ice time.
Roman Josi, Nashville:Scored game-tying goal late in regulation, had one assist and logged 27:27:16 of ice time.

They said It

"I thought we did. It's been something that I thought has built with our team on the road trip, and it's that we don't stop fighting. We are getting production from a lot of people. It's funny; remember in the first five games, when everyone was worried about secondary scoring? It's primary scoring now that is not where it needs to be." - Stars coach Jim Montgomery on the team responding after Nashville scored two quick goals early in the third period
"It was pretty crazy. I woke up to a phone call this morning saying pack your bag, you are coming up. It's pretty exciting. I drove right here and got ready for the game. It's a pretty exciting moment." - Stars defenseman Ben Gleason on getting called up to make his NHL debut
"It was a special day. It was a day that I'll always remember. About halfway through the game, I stopped watching the videos, but I'll have to get them after. It was pretty moving to see the amount of respect that people gave me around the league. The whole thing, I feel like it's been stretched out because we played on the road and going through Canada. It's been definitely an emotional time and a time to reflect. I'm fortunate to be able to play this long. I'm honored the team honored me the way they did." - Stars center Jason Spezza, who was honored for his 1,000th game in a pregame ceremony

Polak sits with illness

Just when you thought the Stars injury issues on defense couldn't get any worse, they did before Saturday's game. Roman Polak was out due to illness, so the Stars had to recall Ben Gleason from Texas of the AHL and the 20-year-old made his NHL debut against Nashville.
Gleason was a free-agent tryout at the NHL Prospect Tournament in Traverse City in September, and his stellar play there earned him an entry-level contract with Dallas.
Also missing for Saturday's game were defensemen John Klingberg (hand), Marc Methot (lower body), Connor Carrick (foot), and Stephen Johns (post-traumatic headaches) along with forwards Alexander Radulov (lower body), Brett Ritchie (upper-body infection/inflammation), and Martin Hanzal (back).

Stat pack

What's next

The Stars play game three of their homestand Monday when they host the Columbus Blue Jackets. This will be the second and final meeting of the season between the Stars and Blue Jackets. The Blue Jackets won, 4-1, in Columbus on Nov. 6.

Stars lineup

Devin Shore - Tyler Seguin - Valeri Nichushkin
Jamie Benn - Jason Spezza - Denis Gurianov
Blake Comeau - Radek Faksa - Tyler Pitlick
Mattias Janmark - Jason Dickinson - Gemel Smith
Esa Lindell - Ben Gleason
Miro Heiskanen - Joel Hanley
Dillon Heatherington - Julius Honka
Ben Bishop
Anton Khudobin
Scratched: NoneInjured:Roman Polak (illness), John Klingberg (hand), Alexander Radulov (lower body), Marc Methot (lower body), Brett Ritchie (upper-body infection/inflammation), Connor Carrick (foot), Martin Hanzal (back), Stephen Johns (post-traumatic headaches)

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mark Stepneski has covered the Stars for DallasStars.com since 2012. Follow him on Twitter @StarsInsideEdge.