Great Outdoors: Stars rally at Winter Classic
DALLAS — Stars interim coach Rick Bowness had just seen a very similar comeback by his team, though the surroundings for this one were drastically different.
While pigs raced during timeouts next to the outdoor rink, which was built in the middle of a historic football stadium and framed to appear as if it was under an oversized ranch entry, the Stars scored four goals in a span of just under eight minutes in a 4-2 win Wednesday over the Predators in an NHL Winter Classic that felt like a state fair.
Well, it was played at the site of the annual State Fair of Texas, with the rides and games on the midway open just outside Cotton Bowl Stadium known for hosting big football games.
“From a coaching perspective, we won the game. We battled back. We survived those early penalties and the guys kept battling and believing and doing what was necessary to get us back in the game,” Bowness said.
“From a fan's perspective, that was great hockey,” he said. “If I was out there watching that game and I was watching us on television, that was an awesome game.”
Alexander Radulov scored the tiebreaking goal on a one-timer with just under 15 minutes left and Andrej Sekera quickly added another goal for the Stars, who were down 2-0 after an extended Predators power play in the opening minutes when Stars F forward Corey Perry got a game misconduct and was ejected for an elbow to the head of D Ryan Ellis.
“It was an awkward play. It was very unintentional,” Perry said.
The Stars reached the midpoint of their regular season with their third win in a row and in third place in the Western Conference.
The Predators have lost three in a row, and are 11th in the West after making the playoffs last season.
“You're involved in a game like this and you want a different outcome so that you can really take the day in for what it's worth,” Predators coach Peter Laviolette said. “So we sit here on the wrong side of it.”