Stars win opener behind rookie’s first NHL goal, Niemi’s shutout

Mattias Janmark is the Dallas Stars’ Mr. Insignificant this season.

The 22-year-old center made his NHL debut Thursday after filling the Stars’ final roster spot Monday, edging out forward Curtis McKenzie, who played in 36 games with the Stars last season.

On the NHL.com game tracker Thursday night, Janmark’s picture was simply a gray silhouette of a head wearing a hockey helmet.

However, it took just 1 minute, 39 seconds for Janmark to significantly impact the Stars’ season-opening 3-0 win, scoring his first career goal on his first shot, which would ultimately be the game-winning goal.

With a gentle tap of his stick, Janmark redirected a Ales Hemsky pass by the short side of Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who was sliding across the crease.

“I couldn’t get a better start,” Janmark said. “It was a dream come true to play the first game and to get that start. You could never dream of that.”

His goal was the second fastest scored by a Stars rookie in his debut, behind Bob Barlow’s score in 1:08 on Oct. 11, 1969 for Minnesota.

Janmark joined the Stars’ organization March 1 as part of the trade that sent former Stars forward Erik Cole to the Detroit Red Wings. Janmark played the majority of last season with Frolunda HC of the Swedish Hockey League, scoring 13 goals and 36 points.

“It either calmed him down or got him excited, one of the two,” Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. “It was great to see it. He’s deserved it. He’s had a heck of a camp. He’s really skated well.”

On the other end of the ice from Janmark was goaltender Antti Niemi, another Star making a great first impression before a sellout crowd of 18,532 at American Airlines Center.

The 32-year-old goalie, acquired from San Jose over the off-season, recorded a win and shutout in his first game for the Stars, stopping 36 Pittsburgh shots. Goalie Kari Lehtonen looked on from the Stars’ bench as Niemi’s start Thursday broke Lehtonen’s streak of five straight opening-night starts for Dallas.

Thursday’s scoreless effort marked Niemi’s 33rd career shutout.

“I thought he looked quick,” Ruff said. “Nothing went through him and he made a couple really good saves at the end of the game to put the icing on the cake.”

Niemi’s standout performance wasn’t just defensive. The goalie recorded two assists on the night, putting him in the mix as one of the league’s top five in points in the 2-day-old season. He is the second goalie in Stars franchise history to tally multiple assists in a game, following Johan Hedberg on Dec. 26, 2005.

He is the first goalie in NHL history to record two assists and a shutout in the same game.

The season opener proved that the two Stars players recovering from off-season hip surgeries, Jamie Benn and Hemsky, were making strides toward regaining full strength.

After recording an assist on Janmark’s goal early in the first period, Hemsky scored a goal of his own, ripping a wrist shot above the blocker of Fleury on the Stars’ first power play of the season early in the second period.

“I thought, for me, he not only scored, but he skated very well and shot the puck more. I really liked his performance,” Ruff said of Hemsky.

Benn, the reigning Art Ross Trophy winner, scored his first goal of the season late in the third, tipping in a shot from Jason Spezza from the point while the Stars were on a power play.

Benn headed to the locker room before the end of the game after experienced cramping, Ruff said.

“I don’t quite know when we’ll get him to full speed,” Ruff said. “I thought his compete was good. I don’t think he’s there yet.”

The Stars’ defense eliminated star forward Sidney Crosby, who didn’t put a shot on net in 22 minutes of ice time.

“We did a lot of good things in our end and part of that was stick on puck,” Ruff said. “It was guys blocking shots and being in the shot lane. Those little details will win you games. We got pretty good at it at the end last year and the focus since Day 1 at camp was to be better at it and I think the guys have really bought into it.”

This story was originally published October 8, 2015 at 1:01 PM with the headline "Stars win opener behind rookie’s first NHL goal, Niemi’s shutout."