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Benn There, Done That! (Stars Gazing; 02.06.23)

Ross James/ALOST

akoiki-passport2 – by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief

DALLAS — It would have been no surprise if Dallas Stars lifer Jamie Benn was given the best seat in the house at the end of his 1000th career National Hockey League game, and, in a way, he had the best view of the ice when the final few seconds of the game were ticking away.

Unfortunately, that “posh” lower-level seat was situated in the penalty box, and that’s where Benn sat in overtime in hopes that his error would not spoil his own special day.

It didn’t, and Benn’s teammates made sure their captain led them to another victory, one that stopped a maddening run of rotten luck in extra sessions.

Jason Robertson and Tyler Seguin scored in the shootout while Jake Oettinger made two saves in the process, as well as 32 saves in the game, to lift the Stars to a 3-2 victory over the Anaheim Ducks inside American Airlines Center on Monday night. Nils Lundkvist and Roope Hintz scored in regulation for Dallas, who snapped a three-game losing streak — all of those losses coming in overtime.

Benn, whose 1,000th career game as a Dallas Star ranks him only behind Mike Modano for most games played in franchise history, found himself watching an Anaheim 4-on-3 power play after a high stick on former teammate John Klingberg 1:20 into the extra session. Dallas’ penalty kill saw off the penalty, allowing for the heroics in the shootout while saving Benn his blushes about the miscue that could have lead to the team’s fourth straight defeat.

“Big night. The guys dug in, particularly in overtime when he took the penalty, to make sure we didn’t hang that on him,” Stars head coach Pete DeBoer said. “It was a huge kill. That was a testament to how important it was for our group for him to feel good about the night.”

Benn was able to have loved ones at the game for the landmark game, and in true captain form, he deflected the moment away from himself and stressed the importance of others and the team in showing appreciation for the once-in-a-lifetime moment.

“It was great. I’m fortunate enough to have [the family] here, and it worked out that [older brother Jordie Benn’s] break was the second half, so he got to be in town,” Jamie said. “It’s been fun the last couple of days hanging out with the family and a good night overall.”

Anaheim threatened to spoil the night in the third period, when Jakob Silfverberg and Adam Henrique scored 1:26 apart midway through the third period to tie the score at 2-2. Goalkeeper John Gibson made 39 saves for the Ducks, including a highlight-reel save while doing the splits on Mason Marchment in the second period.

Klingberg was playing his first game against his former club after spending the first eight seasons of his career in Dallas. He ended his career second in Stars history in goals, assists and points by a defenseman, all behind recent Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Sergei Zubov.

*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Monday evening’s game, with all photos taken by Dallas-area photographer Ross James. After clicking on the first photo to enlarge the picture, make sure to press the left and right arrow buttons to scroll through the rest of the pictures. There are 20 pictures in total.

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Tags : Anaheim DucksDallas StarsJamie BennNHL

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