👋 Good morning! - I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas holiday and I hope you enjoy the upcoming New Year before reality hits again. - Ali Jawad
Dallas Finally Breaks Through Late… Then Gives It All Back in a 4-3 Shootout Loss
The Dallas Stars finally grabbed their first third-period lead on Saturday night at American Airlines Center… and then watched it slip right back into chaos.
In a game that felt like it was sponsored by weird bounces and bad timing, Dallas couldn’t close the door on the Chicago Blackhawks, falling 4-3 in a shootout after letting a late advantage evaporate.
It started exactly the way Glen Gulutzan warned it would after the holiday break: sloppy, rusty, and unhinged. A Miro Heiskanen pinch turned into a Chicago rush the other way and a Tyler Bertuzzi opener, while Dallas spent the early stages flirting with disaster and living off Jake Oettinger saves.
The Stars still found a way to hang around, got a Nils Lundkvist point blast through traffic, and Jason Robertson looked like he was about to detonate, except the post had other plans (twice).
Then the third period turned into a full-on fever dream. Justin Hryckowian stayed scorching, jumping into the play and scoring again as his case to be an everyday NHL guy keeps getting louder.
But even when Dallas finally got what it wanted, a lead off a Johnston shot that basically banked off Mikko Rantanen and turned into a rebound goal, the night refused to settle.
Bertuzzi struck again in tight to make it 3-3, Lundkvist took a puck to the face late and needed stitches, and after 60 minutes of madness, the Stars wound up on the wrong end of a 4-3 shootout finish.
Cooper Flagg went nuclear on Saturday, scoring 15 of his 23 points in the third quarter, the most he’s poured in during any quarter all season, and it still wasn’t enough to save the Mavericks.
Dallas coughed it up 21 times, and the Kings turned those mistakes into 28 points en route to a 113-107 win as Russell Westbrook drilled five 3s and stuffed the box score.
Without Anthony Davis (now 4-13 without him), the Mavs dropped their sixth straight road game and head into Monday vs. Portland still stuck in clutch-game chaos (10-15 in a league-high 25 clutch games).
Go Coogs
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Ali Jawad
Dallas Cowboys Content Creator/Newsletter Writer
[email protected]
