Stars newcomers sparkle in debuts to lift Dallas by Anaheim Ducks

On a night when key offensive cogs Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin combined for one point, several Dallas Stars newcomers stepped up to help fill the void in a 4-2 victory against the Anaheim Ducks before a sellout crowd of 18,532 Thursday at American Airlines Center.

New additions Adam Cracknell (goal, assist), Dan Hamhuis (assist) and Lauri Korpikoski (goal) had points in their Dallas debuts.

Cracknell set up the game-winning goal by Antoine Roussel 1:23 into the third period, sending a backhand pass through the Anaheim crease which Roussel didn’t strike cleanly, but the puck still went in. Cracknell also added an insurance tally later in the period.

"I thought he did a lot of good things,” Stars coach Lindy Ruff said of Cracknell. “Obviously, the goal and the assist were great. I thought he got himself in the right spot a lot of times. With the absence of some of our players, he really did a nice job for us tonight."

Stephen Johns also scored for Dallas, giving the Stars their first lead 3:40 into the game.

Goaltender Antti Niemi, starting his second consecutive season opener for Dallas, made 33 saves, including 16 in the first period, to earn the victory.

Andrew Cogliano scored both goals for the Ducks, his ninth career multi-goal game.

Dallas (1-0-0, 2 points) put Anaheim on the power play 32 seconds into the game thanks to a delay of game penalty on Benn for accidentally shooting the puck over the boards. After killing that penalty, Johns put Dallas ahead about three minutes later, tapping in a cross-ice pass from Patrick Eaves to make it 1-0, Dallas’ lone shot on goal of the first period.

“It’s fun scoring, I don’t think it’ll ever get old. I just saw an opening and a lot of open ice,” Johns said. “I saw Patty Eaves had the puck and I just went to the backdoor.”

Anaheim (0-1-0) answered when Cogliano scored a shorthanded goal with 5:51 remaining in the first period. Niemi denied Cogliano’s initial attempt with a pad save, but Cogliano collected the rebound for the equalizer. The Ducks outshot the Stars 17-1 over the opening 20 minutes.

The Stars recaptured the lead 2:43 into the second when Korpikoski, signed on Monday, beat Ducks goaltender John Gibson far post with a one-timer from the edge of the left circle.

Dallas had several other quality chances to grow its lead later in the middle frame, but a one-timer by Jason Spezza with 6:03 left in the second found the left post and Gibson denied Seguin at close range less than a minute before the second intermission.

"We know that he (Korpikoski) shoots the puck well,” Ruff said. “I think with ice time, he's a guy that could get you 10 to 15 goals pretty easily. He's a good player, a good, smart two-way player."

Cogliano briefly tied it with his second of the evening 1:01 into the third period when he blistered a one-timer from the slot into the back of the visiting net after Jiri Hudler turned the puck over inside the Dallas zone.

However, Roussel, who would later assist on Cracknell’s goal, scored 22 seconds later to put Dallas up for good.

The Stars play their next two on the road, Saturday at Colorado and Tuesday at Nashville. Dallas’ next home game is Thursday against Los Angeles.

This story was originally published October 13, 2016 at 11:18 PM.