DALLAS (AP) — Jacob Peterson made good on a second chance at the go-ahead goal, and the Dallas Stars tied a franchise record with their seventh consecutive win, beating the Arizona Coyotes 4-1 on Monday night.
“(Peterson) likes to make plays. He likes to hang on to the puck. We like that,” Dallas coach Rick Bowness said.
As the Minnesota North Stars and Dallas Stars, the franchise has had five seven-game winning streaks in 54 seasons. The Stars' streak is currently the longest in the NHL.
Jamie Benn scored twice in a span of about two minutes late in the third period for the Stars — one on the power play — and Roope Hintz also had a goal. Braden Holtby had 18 saves.
But Bowness didn't like much of what he saw from the Stars in the first two periods.
“We weren’t playing at the level we needed to play with for 40 minutes," he said. "We just got the forecheck, we got the energy back, we got the intensity back. A great third period.”
Shayne Gostisbehere scored Arizona's only goal, and goalie Scott Wedgewood had 23 saves.
Hintz scored first with about 6 minutes left in the first period. Jason Robertson passed in front to Hintz for a wrist shot that beat Wedgewood. Arizona had little to show for outshooting the Stars 9-7 and killing the only two penalties in the first.
Gostisbehere spoiled Holtby’s chance for his 36th career shutout 3:09 into the second period. Clayton Keller passed ahead to Gostisbehere, who skated into the right faceoff circle, maneuvered the puck behind Robertson and picked it up in the slot to send a wrist shot past Holtby.
The Stars appeared to break a 1-1 tie 6:05 into the third when Peterson knocked in the puck from just outside the blue paint. However, a video replay showed that Peterson kicked it past Wedgewood.
“I knew it right away,” Peterson said. “I got a feeling on the net for the next time.”
About three minutes later, Alexander Radulov skated behind the net and sent a backhand pass to Peterson on the doorstep for his fourth goal this season at 9:01.
“It happens a lot of times during the games that (Radulov) gets the puck down low,” Peterson said. “I know to search an open space.”
The Stars' power-play goal was the first in eight man-advantages over the last four games. Arizona's drought has been much longer — 0 for 17 in the last nine games.
Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny saw some positives from his team, whose 12 points in the standings are the NHL's lowest total.
"We’re proud of the way we played for most of the game, and then we give up a goal — 2-1, okay, that happened, we can live with that. Then we take the penalty in the (offensive) zone, and the score at the end of that shift.
"We build on a good performance like that. We’re chasing wins ... We need to take the positive of that game, build on that, and learn from a few mistakes."
Dallas dominated the third period with 13 shots to Arizona's 6 on goal.
“We were just not up to our standards as a group,” said Benn, who has seven goals this season. “We decided to play in the third. Momentum is nice. We get to feed off our fans.”
Dallas has won eight in a row at home, all in regulation (after the Stars had no regulation wins in their first three home games). Arizona has lost 14 straight in Dallas dating back to Feb. 7, 2012.
NOTES: The Stars franchise won seven in a row in four different seasons. In addition to their streak in January and February of 2008 in Dallas, the Minnesota North Stars reached seven straight in 1979-80, 1996-97 and 1997-98. ... Coyotes LW Loui Eriksson played in his 1,000th NHL game in a career that began with seven seasons for Dallas from 2006 through 2013. ... Stars G Ben Bishop expects to play Thursday for the first time in 14 months following knee surgery, for the AHL's Texas Stars. Robertson has 18 points (seven goals, 11 assists) in 16 games played. ... LW Michael Raffl did not play because of a non-COVID illness. Bowness said about half the team was “under the weather.”
UP NEXT
Coyotes: Host Florida on Friday to begin a three-game home stand.
Stars: Begin a three-game trip at Vegas on Wednesday, when they can win a record eighth in a row. ___
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Lary Bump, The Associated Press