Stars shake off early deficit, top Predators in shootout

The Dallas Stars have been hoping to show that they can play with the top-three teams in the Central Division.
They took a step in that direction Saturday night, defeating the Nashville Predators, 4-3, in a shootout at American Airlines Center.
The Stars were 0-2-0 against division-leading Nashville heading into Saturday's game. The win over the Predators along with Thursday's 4-0 win over Chicago, a team Dallas is currently battling for a wild-card spot, has given the Stars a boost heading into the NHL's holiday break.

WATCH: [All Stars vs. Predators highlights]
"That's going to build great confidence for us," said Stars center Martin Hanzal. "Right before Christmas, we beat Chicago and Nashville; they are great teams. It's great for our group, and we've got to build on that."
The Stars shook off an early 2-0 deficit Saturday, rallied to take a 3-2 lead and then saw the Predators push back to tie the game 3-3 and force overtime where the Stars had to kill off back-to-back penalties, including 1:29 of a 4-on-3 power play and then 31 seconds of a 5-on-3.
"The best thing for me was the job those guys did at the end killing the penalties," Stars coach Ken Hitchcock said. "That was just outstanding and that really, really helped us a lot."

Ben Bishop, who made 29 saves, including five in overtime, turned away both Nashville shootout attempts and Alexander Radulov and Tyler Seguin scored in the shootout as the Stars secured the two points.
Seguin, Antoine Roussel, and Hanzal scored regulation goals for the Stars, who have points in four straight games (2-0-2) and points in six of the last seven (4-1-2). The Stars hit the NHL's holiday break with a 20-14-3 record.
"We are trying to improve every day with every game," said Stars captain Jamie Benn. "It's important for us to keep winning in our division if we want to make up some ground.
"I think that was a big confidence boost beating Chicago and then Nashville tonight."
Nashville lost its third straight game (0-2-1) and fell to 21-9-5 on the season. The Predators felt the game turned when they put the Stars on four straight power plays in the first period after taking an early 2-0 lead.
"We have been talking about it for how long, the whole year? But, we still take four penalties in the first period," Nashville defenseman Roman Josi said. "We were up 2-0 and took four penalties. They are a good team; you can't just kill off every penalty. It's not very smart."

The Predators grabbed a 1-0 lead 34 seconds into the game when Alexei Emelin scored from the slot off the rush. Bishop came up big to keep it a 1-0 game 34 seconds later when he made a glove save on Kevin Fiala's breakaway bid.
The Stars got two chances on the power play, but the Predators scored shorthanded on the second one to take a 2-0 lead. Colton Sisson stole the puck from Benn at the Nashville blue line and set up Calle Jarnkrok, who roofed a shot from the right circle at the 7:03 mark.
The Stars got a third power play midway through the period and cashed in on this one to cut the Nashville lead to 2-1. Benn set up Seguin, who scored on a one-timer from the right circle at 12:13 of the first. The Stars got a fourth power play but couldn't take advantage of that one.
"They got a couple [of goals] in the first, but it was one of those things where it was early enough," Bishop said. "But it wasn't like they were jamming it down our throat. So, we felt pretty confident coming in after the first period and were able to regroup."
Bishop came up with a big save in the second period to keep it a 2-1 game, stopping Josi with a poke check with the Predators on a 4-on-1 rush.
The Stars drew even midway through the second when they had the Predators scrambling in their own end, and Roussel batted home the rebound of a John Klingberg shot.

The Stars took a 3-2 lead at 13:18 of the second when Josi turned over the puck at the Nashville blue line and Hanzal scored on the rebound of a Gemel Smith shot with the Stars on a 2-on-1 rush.
Nashville tied the game 4:45 into the third period by cashing in on their second power play of the night when Ryan Johansen scored from the left circle, and it was 3-3.
The Stars had three great chances just under three minutes later when Benn put a shot on net that was stopped by Predators goaltender Juuse Saros, Janmark's close-range rebound attempt was blocked, and then Radulov's bid at the open side of the net went wide.
That sent the game to overtime where Benn and Dan Hamhuis took back-to-back penalties, giving the Predators 4-on-3 and 5-on-3 power-play time. The Stars killed those off and then Radulov, Seguin, and Bishop delivered in the shootout.
"You just have to battle through," Bishop said. "The guys did a great job, made some big plays there on the penalty kill and then you get into the shootout, and obviously anyone can win in the shootout.
"It was nice to survive that power play and get the win."

Notes

What's Next

The Stars and the NHL are on a break from Dec. 24 through Dec. 26. The next game for the Stars is Dec. 27 at Minnesota. Their next home game is Dec. 29 vs. St. Louis.

Stars Lineup

Remi Elie - Jamie Benn - Alexander Radulov
Mattias Janmark - Tyler Seguin - Devin Shore
Antoine Roussel - Radek Faksa - Tyler Pitlick
Gemel Smith - Martin Hanzal - Jason Spezza
John Klingberg - Esa Lindell
Dan Hamhuis - Greg Pateryn
Stephen Johns - Julius Honka
Ben Bishop
Kari Lehtonen
Scratched:Brett Ritchie
Injured:Marc Methot (knee)

Mark Stepneski is an independent writer whose posts on DallasStars.com reflect his own opinions and do not represent official statements from the Dallas Stars. You can follow Mark on Twitter at @StarsInsideEdge.