– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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DALLAS — Hockey was the name of the game today at American Airlines Center, but many inside the home that also houses the Dallas Mavericks were still abuzz given the shock trade of arguably the biggest star in pro sports in the Metroplex, Luka Doncic, in the wee hours of Sunday morning. At least the Dallas Stars did their part in taking people’s minds off the new era on the hardwood inside the arena with another win on the ice.
Evgenii Dadonov scored both of his goals in the third period to rally the Stars to a 5-3 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday evening. Mason Marchment, who missed 17 games after breaking his nose when a puck hit his face in a game on December 27, scored on his return to the lineup.
Casey DeSmith started in goal and recorded 27 saves for the Stars, who have won five straight games and 15 of their past 20.
Columbus held a one-goal lead on three different occasions before Dadonov gave Dallas the lead for good at the 4:37 mark of the third period, when he tipped in a point shot from defenseman Thomas Harley past Columbus goalkeeper Elvis Merzlikins with 8:38 remaining in the third period. The goal was reviewed for a possible high stick above the crossbar but ended up being upheld.
Dadonov alled a wraparound goal that deflected off of the pad of Merzlikens with 4:13 left to play.
“I thought we grinded and battled and, a lot like the streak we’ve been on, we didn’t beat ourselves,” Stars head coach Pete DeBoer said. “We found a way to weather the storm when we needed to and found a big goal when we needed to.”
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Sunday evening’s game, with photos taken by ALOST staff photographer Ross James. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page. Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 33 pictures in total.
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