DALLAS (AP) — Ken Hitchcock had been looking for scoring from somewhere besides the Dallas Stars’ top line. The third-winningest coach in NHL history got what he wanted Tuesday night, when Radek Faksa, Dan Hamhuis and Alexander Radulov each scored
DALLAS (AP) — Ken Hitchcock had been looking for scoring from somewhere besides the Dallas Stars’ top line.
The third-winningest coach in NHL history got what he wanted Tuesday night, when Radek Faksa, Dan Hamhuis and Alexander Radulov each scored their first goal of the season in a 3-1 victory over the winless Arizona Coyotes.
The first two goals came with the line centered by Faksa on the ice.
“Faksa’s line was great,” Hitchcock said. “They created a lot of scoring chances. Faksa’s line was on the same page from start to finish.”
Coming into the game, Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn from the first line had scored five of Dallas’ 11 goals.
Arizona (0-5-1) remained the only NHL team without a win. The Coyotes tried to rally from a 2-0 deficit, beginning with a second-period goal by Jason Demers. They outshot Dallas 15-9 in the third, but goalie Ben Bishop stopped all 15 shots for his third win.
Three of those saves came during the Coyotes’ only two power plays, early in the third. They had a 5-on-3 advantage for 17 seconds, but Bishop saved both shots on goal during that stretch.
“The penalty kill was huge there in the third period,” Bishop said. “The guys did a good job, and obviously you can’t rest after killing off the 5-on-3. We killed off the 5-on-4 after that.”
Adin Hill made his NHL debut in goal for the Coyotes and had 31 saves to keep them in the game.
“I thought Adin Hill did a nice job for us, was solid in the net,” coach Rick Tocchet said. “The guys worked hard and just couldn’t score.”
Radulov, who skates with Seguin and Benn, scored into an empty net with 52 seconds left. It was Dallas’ third empty-net goal of the season.
The Stars (3-3) have won two straight for the first time this season. They can equal their longest winning streak of 2016-17 with a victory Thursday at Arizona.
Bishop finished with 27 saves.
Faksa scored 5:17 into the first period. Mattias Janmark skated from the left side around the net and tried for a wraparound goal. Hill stopped the shot, but Faksa backhanded the rebound over the prone goalie.
“It’s a goal in the NHL, right?” Hill said. “There are goals nearly every game. Just got to focus on the next shot. That’s all it is, wipe it from your memory.”
Dallas’ lead grew to 2-0 at 10:48 of the second, when Tyler Pitlick found Hamhuis low in the left circle and fed him a pass from the right corner. Hill couldn’t react fast enough to stop the defenseman’s slap shot. Faksa received an assist on the play.
“We wanted to be strong on the puck,” Faksa said. “We had the rebound, and a great pass by (Pitlick) and an even better shot by (Hamhuis). It was a nice goal.”
Demers scored for Arizona at 14:40. He picked up the puck from teammate Max Domi, skated to the middle of the left circle and lifted a wrist shot inside the right post.
NOTES: With goalie Antti Raanta out because of a lower-body injury, the 21-year-old Hill was recalled from Tucson of the AHL. His parents and 9-year-old brother traveled from Western Canada for the game. … The Stars have won their last 10 home games against Arizona dating to Feb. 7, 2012. … Coyotes D Oliver Ekman-Larsson played in his 500th NHL game. … Dallas’ Antoine Roussel and Arizona’s Luke Schenn fought just 1:26 into the game. … The Stars have not been outshot in a game this season. … Demers is one of three Coyotes defensemen, along with Alex Goligoski and Kevin Connauton, who played for Dallas.
UP NEXT
Coyotes: Return home for another game against Dallas on Thursday night.
Stars: Complete the home-and-home set at Arizona on Thursday night.
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