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James Neal’s Winning Goal Only His Final Contribution to Dallas Stars’ Overtime Victory

DALLAS - The Stars cleverly announced during Wednesday night’s game that the Ott-toberfest ticket promotion has been extended into November by two games by the “league offices” since Steve Ott was slapped with a two-game suspension for his hit on St. Louis’ Carlo Colaiaicovo last Saturday night. And for much of the night, the Ott-less lineup looked limp and allowed a one-win Toronto team to rally twice and then grab the lead midway through the third period.

Only then did the Stars seem to get their dander up. Mike Ribeiro’s redirection in the slot tied the score with 2:45 left in the third period. Then young James Neal, devoted Leafs fans as a lad growing up in the Toronto suburb of Whitby, displayed his offshoot of the Gordie Howe hat trick to help get the game into overtime and win it almost three minutes in by a 4-3 score.

It’s the first time this season the Stars have won a game played beyond regulation. With Florida (2-7-1) coming in Friday and a Saturday night visit to Nashville (4-6-1), the Stars (16 points in 12 games) have a golden opportunity to push San Jose (17 in 13) for the lead in the Pacific Division after the first month.

For the better part of Wednesday night, the Stars seemed destined to make 23-year-old Maple Leafs winger Nikolai Kulemin an overnight star. Kulemin was a healthy scratch four times in the first eight games as Toronto dug itself into the bottom of the Eastern Conference. But when the Leafs finally broke into the win column on Monday night at Anaheim, Kulemin turned from fourth-liner into second-liner. Against Dallas, he scored his first two goals of the season, the second one giving Toronto a 3-2 lead 13:11 into the third period. He took what was a relatively quiet gathering of 16,302 (I thought Leafs fans would show up in droves and make racket like Dallas Red Wings fans) and turn it almost silent.

That finally changed when Ribeiro tipped a wrister from Jamie Benn past Toronto rookie goalie Jonas Gustavsson at 17:15. That was really the first Stars offensive success of the night. Brad Richards had given Dallas a 1-0 lead late in the first period by banging the puck off the skate of Leafs defenseman Ian White from behind the net. Richards had also scored the Stars’ second goal for a 2-1 lead early in the second period, 20 seconds into a 5-on-3 advantage after Ribeiro sold a high sticking penalty on Toronto’s Michael Komisarek. Could be that call resuled in the holding penalty whistled against Brenden Morrow a few minutes later that led to Lee Stempniak’s power-play goal to tie the score.

Kulemin threatened again in the closing seconds of regulation, charging toward the net with the chance to leave the Stars with their fourth loss in five home games. But Neal would have none of it and “escorted” Kulemin off into the corner. The puck eventually made its way near the right point to White, who wound up for a slapper. But there was Neal again, making a sliding block on the final play of regulation.

Stars coach Marc Crawford tilted ice time toward his top two lines throughout regulation, then went with them exclusively in overtime. Neal was on the ice for 1:25 of the extra 2:57 when he collected a rebound to Gustavsson’s right and slid it into the net as the goalie was trying to come all the way across from the left post. “Went across the line pretty slow,” Neal said sheepishly. “But I’ll take it.”

Which summed up the night for the Stars. They hadn’t played since Saturday yet couldn’t find any rhythm, couldn’t find much energy. They were outshot 10-2 in the first period and at one point early in the second had gone almost 20 minutes without an official shot on net, their best chances resulting in near-miss connections or shots off target. Said Crawford: “When you don’t have your best stuff, you have to make sure your habits are very good.”

So in Ott’s absence, who was expected to provide his unique contribution to Stars hockey? And who succeeded in doing that? Crawford’s list began with captain Morrow.

“He’s probably one of those guys who didn’t have his best stuff tonight,” Crawford said. “Yet that’s the veteran quality of a Brenden Morrow; he recognized the team doesn’t have much, and he went out and played with a physical edge. He had a couple of huge hits. I think that allowed our guys to take notice. And that’s a lot of what Steve Ott brings.

“There were [other] people that tried, but they just couldn’t get there. Some of the guys on the fourth line [which was Brian Sutherby, call-up Francis Wathier and Krys Barch]. Some of the guys on the third line [which was Tom Wandell centering for Toby Petersen and Fabian Brunnstrom]. They had trouble getting there tonight.”

Not Neal. The 22-year-old sophomore played a season-high 21:38 and now has goals in the last three games (to take the team lead with seven), points in the last four. Crawford said of him: “You get a little payback when you block a shot, when you battle for loose pucks, when you get in on the forecheck.”