The Pittsburgh Penguins spent most of the offseason focusing on upgrading their offensive attack. Through one game, it seems to have been for naught, as the Pens were shut out 3-0 by the Stars on opening night in Dallas.
It wasn’t for a lack of chances, as the Penguins outshot Dallas 37-24. Defenseman Kris Letang led the offensive charge with eight shots on goal, but neither Letang nor any of the other Pens could solve Dallas goaltender Antti Niemi, who improved to 5-1-1 in his career against Pittsburgh.
The Stars were noted a strong first period team under Lindy Ruff in 2014-15, and they were able to strike first against the Penguins near the end of the first period when Ales Hemsky fed a centering pass to rookie Mattias Janmark, who had beaten David Perron on a drive through the slot. Janmark pulled the trigger on a shot that slid through the five hole of Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who was sliding to his right to adjust to the play.
After giving up the early lead, the Penguins settled down and were able to control the majority of the time of possession, but were unable to solve Niemi.
The Stars took advantage of undisciplined play by the Penguins in the latter half of the game. The Penguins gave Dallas five power plays, and the Stars cashed in on a pair of them.
Hemsky put the Stars up 2-0 at the 5:42 mark of the second period, when he took a pass from former Penguins defenseman Alex Goligoksi and skated down the right wing into the Penguins zone. He deked around Rob Scuderi and used him a screen for his shot, which went over the shoulder of Fleury.
Niemi assisted on both of the Stars first two goals and was briefly the NHL’s fourth-leading scorer.
Jamie Benn put the game way with a power play goal at 12:39 of the third period. With Ian Cole in the box for high sticking, Benn posted up in front of Fleury and redirected a Jason Spezza shot past Fleury.
A late-game scramble by the Penguins with the goaltender pulled resulted in numerous scoring chances and shots on goal, but Niemi stood tall and earned his spot as the game’s No. 1 star.
The Penguins season-opening road trip continues against the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday night.
Photo credit: Tom Pennington/Getty Images
