Jason Spezza helps Stars rally past Blues in preseason opener

The Dallas Stars opened their 2018 preseason schedule with a 5-3 win over the St. Louis Blues at American Airlines Center on Tuesday night. Jason Spezza scored the winning goal, putting the Stars ahead 4-3 at the 7:03 mark of the third period.
"It was a little bit sloppy, which is to be expected with the first exhibition game," Spezza said. "It was nice to get a win and show some resiliency."

MIKE HEIKA: [Stars still need time to grasp Jim Montgomery's system, but the energy is already on full display]
Alexander Radulov scored two goals, and Roope Hintz and Tyler Seguin also scored for the Stars, who overcame 2-1 and 3-2 deficits in the game.

Ben Bishop got the start in goal for the Stars and stopped all 16 shots he faced while playing the first half of the game, and Landon Bow stopped 19 of 22 shots over the second half to pick up the win.
After a scoreless first period, Radulov staked the Stars to a 1-0 lead in the second. But goals by Jordan Kyrou and Dmitrij Jaskin put the Blues up 2-1 heading into the final period. Hintz tied the game early in the third, but the Blues took the lead again when Patrick Maroon scored on a 5-on-3 power play at 3:23 of the third.
Less than two minutes later, Seguin tied the game 3-3 on the power play, scoring from the slot and less than two minutes after that Valeri Nichushkin set up Spezza, who scored on a backhand shot on the rush to put the Stars up 4-3. Radulov sealed the win an empty-net goal.

Turning point

The Stars were down 2-1 after 40 minutes, but goaltender Landon Bow came up with three saves in the first 45 seconds of the third period to keep Dallas within a goal, and then Roope Hintz put home the rebound of a Jason Dickinson shot to tie the game 2-2 at the 56-second mark of the final frame. That gave the Stars some life and sparked them to a four-goal third period as they rallied for the 5-3 victory.

Players of the game

Ben Bishop, Stars:Bishop was superb in goal, stopping all 16 shots he faced in playing the first half of the game (29:07 to be specific). He had a couple of big stops on Blues forward Pat Maroon in the first and another good one on Ryan O'Reilly with St. Louis on the power play in the second.
Jordan Kyrou, Blues:The highly regarded Blues forward prospect was outstanding, recording one goal, one assist and a game-high seven shots on goal in 20:36 of playing time.
Jason Spezza, Stars:TheDallas center notched the game-winning goal, co-led Dallas with five shots on goal and won 8 of 12 faceoffs.

They said it

"As a coaching staff we are looking to build and get better, and we've got a lot of areas to get better on after what we saw tonight." -- Stars coach Jim Montgomery
"I know as a coach you are trying to balance how much you're trying to implement of how you want to play versus playing fast. Maybe we put too much at them, but we weren't very fast tonight. You could see players thinking out there. I don't want players thinking. I want players playing on instinct. I thought in the third period, after two lackluster periods, I thought we at least brought emotion. We didn't make incredible plays, but because of the emotion and second effort we got back in the game." -- Montgomery
"I felt pretty good. It's been a while. It's always nice to get the feet wet. It's just a half game, but going to be building on that and take the good away from it. Still, some things to clean up, but I felt good."-- Stars goaltender Ben Bishop on his first game since March 18, when he went out with an injury that ended his 2017-18 season
"Disappointed not to get the win, we played a solid two periods and then got a little bit loose in the third period. It started with some puck play with some guys that should know better in certain situations to manage the puck better." -- Blues coach Mike Yeo

Notes

Up next

The Stars practice Wednesday and Thursday at StarCenter Frisco before playing their second preseason game Thursday night at Minnesota.

Stars lineup

Jamie Benn - Tyler Seguin - Alexander Radulov
Mattias Janmark - Jason Spezza - Valeri Nichushkin
Jason Dickinson - Roope Hintz - Brett Ritchie
Nick Caamano - Ty Dellandrea - Jason Robertson
Miro Heiskanen - John Klingberg
Esa Lindell - Julius Honka
Gavin Bayreuther - Roman Polak
Ben Bishop
Landon Bow
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.