WASHINGTON, D.C. - The NHL schedule-makers dealt the Washington Capitals a tough hand Thursday.
The Capitals played in Detroit Wednesday while the Stars practiced and rested in Washington, so Dallas was given a big advantage. But it was just these situations that the Stars seemed to mess up in the last season.
On Thursday, led by Kari Lehtonen's goaltending and timely scoring from three lines, Dallas took a 3-2 win and pushed its record to 16-4-0. It's the best start in franchise history after 20 games and just one more sign that this season might be something completely different.
"We've been in many of these games and we believe we can get it done. We didn't panic when they tied it, and that was nice," said Lehtonen, who moves to 9-1-0 on the season. "When it has gone your way five times this season, you start believing that you just have to do our job, and don't do anything special. That worked tonight."
Just as it was in Buffalo Tuesday, the opposing team had a huge moment that infused life into the building, and the Stars had to respond. This time, Washington's Alex Ovechkin became the highest scoring Russian-born player in NHL history when his 484th goal tied the game at 2-2 in the third period. Ovechkin moved ahead of Sergei Fedorov and broke a four-game goal drought, and Verizon Center felt sure another goal was coming for their captain.
However, it came for the Stars instead of the Capitals .Washington's Jason Chimera tried to make a quick pass out from in front of his own goal, and Dallas center Jason Spezza intercepted the pass, then turned and whipped it past goalie Philipp Grubauer for the eventual game-winner just three minutes after the Ovechkin goal.
It was a big play by a big player, and it's something Stars fans are getting used to this season.
"It was an important goal, because the building was rocking and those next couple of shifts were big shifts," Ruff said.
Even though the Capitals had tough travel, they came with physical energy from the opening shift. They outshot the Stars 35-31, and outhit them 19-10. The Capitals (12-5-1) have been on a roll and were pumped to play the red hot Stars, and it showed on the ice.
"I think it is good for a team," Spezza said of the Stars having a bit of a target on their back. "It's a challenge. It forces you to bring your best game every night. And it creates good habits because if you let your guard down you lose. It's created good habits, pushed us to become a better team."
The Stars weren't a great team Thursday, as they had some turnovers that had to be cleaned up by Lehtonen. Still, the goaltending also is stepping up. Dallas is going with a two-goalie system this season (with Antti Niemi joining the team) and each goalie has 10 starts. However, those starts have come in different rotations, and this was the first time the two goalies have alternated from one game to the next.
"It's good," Lehtonen said. "I got a couple of good practices. Antti played great in Buffalo and I played well tonight, and that's all good."
Ruff continues to say the rotation is experimental, and that he's learning as much as anyone.
"It's a little bit of trial and error," Ruff said. "The games have balanced out and I love the way both goalies are playing. The schedule is going to get heavy and it's important that both guys can step in. And both guys have done a great job."
Just as the team has. Tyler Seguin finished off a nice shift in the first period when he converted off a John Klingberg assist for his 11th goal of the season. Klingberg then picked up his second assist of the game when he slipped a shot through a crowd that Cody Eakin tipped in.
And then Spezza came up with the game-winner.
It was a microcosm of the season - not perfect, but pretty darn good.
"I think we feel that way," Eakin said when asked if the team has a strange calm it didn't have last season. "I don't know what it is, but I think guys are bearing down and learning from our mistakes and not panicking."
Twitter: @MikeHeika