Due to coronavirus, it took a while for the Dallas Stars to start the season. On Friday night, they had their season opener against the Nashville Predators, and showed the National Hockey League why they represented the Western Conference in the 2020 Stanley Cup Finals in Edmonton, and why they need to be considered as a serious contender to make a run for the Stanley Cup again.
The Stars hammered the Predators and it was not even remotely close. Dallas scored five times in the second period alone en route to a convincing 7-0 victory.
Stars goaltender Anton Khudobin continued his exceptional play from the Edmonton bubble where he posted a record of 14 wins and 10 losses, a goals against average of 2.69, a save percentage of .917, and one shutout in 25 postseason games. On Friday, Khudobin recorded his ninth career shutout, as he made 34 saves (10 saves in the first period, 14 saves in the second period, and 14 saves in the third period). The Stars won by seven goals, even though they were outshot by the Predators by six, 34-28. Predators star defenseman and captain, Roman Josi led the Predators with six shots on goal.
Dallas was led in scoring by Joe Pavelski of Plover, WI. Pavelski notched two goals and two assists for four points. Four other Stars had multi-point games as Alexander Radulov of Nizhny Tagil, Russia had two goals and one assist for three points, John Klingberg of Gothenburg, Sweden had three assists, Joel Kiviranta of Vantaa, Finland had one goal and one assist for two points, and Roope Hintz of Tampere, Finland had two assists. The Stars also got goals from Denis Gurianov of Tolyatti, Russia, and Esa Lindell of Helsinki, Finland.
The Stars had 17 players test positive for coronavirus. As a result, they had four games postponed to later in the year–two each against the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning.
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