First-period goals by Steven Stamkos and Nils Hoglander held up to the final buzzer as the host Nashville Predators claimed a 2-1 victory over the Dallas Stars on Saturday for their first win of the season.
Goaltender Juuse Saros made 29 saves — 12 in the third period — for the Predators, who rebounded after opening the campaign with a home loss to the Minnesota Wild on Thursday.
Miro Heiskanen scored for the Stars, who have dropped two consecutive games to begin the season.
Goalie Casey DeSmith stopped 24 shots and was denied the 100th victory of his career.
With his team trailing after an early Dallas goal, Stamkos tied it on the power play when he unloaded a one-timer from the left faceoff dot set up by Ryan O’Reilly for the 625th goal of his career.
Stamkos is tied with a pair of Hall of Fame luminaries in Joe Sakic — one of his boyhood idols — and Jarome Iginla for 17th on the NHL’s all-time goals list.
O’Reilly’s assist was the 899th point of his career.
The Predators carried the momentum and took the lead when Hoglander netted his first of the season by redirecting the point shot for another man-advantage tally at 15:49.
Dallas regained its footing and pushed the rest of the way, but Saros held strong.
Coming off a season-opening 4-0 loss to the visiting St. Louis Blues on Friday, the Stars were looking for a quick start and received it when Heiskanen opened the scoring 47 seconds into the clash by finishing a scramble.
Nashville defenseman William Trudeau, claimed off waivers from the New York Rangers late last month, made his NHL debut.
–Field Level Media
