Dallas Stars beat Red Wings 7-3 to improve to 4-0 on season

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Joe Pavelski scored his fourth goal of the season, Jake Oettinger stopped 20 shots in his first NHL start and the Dallas Stars beat the Detroit Red Wings 7-3 on Thursday night to finish undefeated in their season-opening four-game homestand.

Denis Gurianov had a goal and two assists while Ty Dellandrea had his first NHL goal and first assist — both coming in the final 5:08 when Dallas stretched out a one-goal lead. Seven Stars scored.

"That's Jake’s first win of many to come in his career, and Ty’s first goal of many to come in his career. It’s nice that they both got them on the same night," coach Rick Bowness said of the two first-round picks. "They deserve it, they worked hard to get here, and they’re great prospects."

Andrew Cogliano, Jamie Oleksiak, Justin Dowling and John Klingberg added goals for the defending Western Conference champion Stars, who last season didn't win until their fourth game during a 1-7-1 start, and now are 4-0 for the first time in 10 seasons. Miro Heiskanen, their standout young defenseman, had three assists.

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Valtteri Filppula knocked in a rebound for his first goal for the Red Wings (2-5-1). Tyler Bertuzzi added a power-play goal in the third period, and Danny DeKeyser made it a one-goal game with 6:56 left.

"Made it 4-3 there, and it got away from us," Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin said. "I think we were in it, but again we just let it slip it away."

Dellandrea then got his goal on a power player after a nifty pass from Heiskanen, then Dowling scored an empty-netter and Dellandrea assisted Klingberg.

"Yeah, it was a lot of emotion. Once I saw it going in, I was pretty pumped and it was an unbelievable play by Miro," Dellandrea, the 13th overall pick in 2018. "That was special."

Oettinger, who turned 22 last month, was the 26th overall pick in the first round by the Stars in the 2017 draft — they got Heiskanen with the third pick that year.

"The ones that went in, he had absolutely zero chance," Bowness said. "He made the saves he had to make."

The goalie made his NHL debut in the playoffs last season, stopping all eight shots faced in two games after relieving Anton Khudobin. Oettinger was the backup through the postseason because of a knee injury to Ben Bishop, the veteran still out until at least late March while rehabbing from a second surgery.

Detroit starting goalie Jonathan Bernier allowed three goals on 19 shots before Thomas Griess gave up three goals on nine shots.

PAVS POINTS

Pavelski is off to a fast start in the second of his three-season contract with the Stars, with four goals and five assists. The 36-year-old center is the oldest player in NHL history to record nine points through their first four games of a season. In 67 regular-season games last season, he had only 14 goals and didn’t reach four goals and nine points until his 19th game The 14 goals matched his career low set in 46 games as rookie for San Jose in 2006-07. Pavelski then had 13 goals in 27 playoff games for Dallas.

HE SAID IT

"We spent so much time in the game under siege it felt like, where they were on top of us everywhere we looked," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "They were just flat-out a step quicker than us all over the ice."

POWER PLAYS

Dallas has 10 power-play goals, one short of the 1987-88 New York Rangers for the most in the first four games of an NHL season. It is only the third time in franchise history, and the first time moving to Dallas before the 1993-94 season, the Stars have 10 power-play goals over a four-game span.

WATCH IT AGAIN

Gurianov's unassisted goal in the second period was confirmed on a replay review after Red Wings forward Anthony Mantha slid through the crease, taking Bernier with him and knocking the net loose. The puck crossed the line just before the Red Wings did.

WHAT’S NEXT

Both teams play back-to-back games Saturday and Sunday, the Red Wings at home against Florida, and the Stars on the road for the first time this season at Carolina. Dallas was initially supposed to open with four road games before those games were postponed because of COVID-19 protocols.