The Dallas Stars and Mason Marchment tied franchise records Monday night en route to a 7-1 rout of the host Pittsburgh Penguins.
Dallas, which entered Monday with just 39 goals in 13 games, feasted on the league’s third-worst scoring defense. In winning for the second time in three games, the Stars did nearly all of their damage in the opening period and cruised from there.
The first-period six-pack tied the then-Minnesota North Stars, who also scored six in the first 20 minutes in a 7-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings on March 16, 1971. The franchise record for goals in any period is eight, set by Minnesota in the second period of a 15-2 home win against Winnipeg on Nov. 11, 1981.
The half-dozen goals that got past Joel Blomqvist and Alex Nedeljkovic on just 12 shots were also the most Pittsburgh ever allowed in the first period at home.
Five Stars players recorded two or more points in the barrage, with Marchment (one goal, three assists) tying a team record with four points in one period. That occurred 10 times previously, with Tyler Seguin and Valeri Nichushkin both accomplishing the feat most recently against Philadelphia on Dec. 7, 2013.
Marchment’s goal came when Brendan Smith cleared the puck from the Stars’ end as both teams changed lines. The puck bounced off the board behind the Penguins’ net and toward the slot, where Marchment got ahead of Matt Grzelcyk and Kris Letang to beat Blomqvist, make it 3-0 and end the starting netminder’s night with 9:44 remaining in the period.
Marchment, who entered Monday with two goals and six assists in 12 games, helped on goals from Matt Duchene, Miro Heiskanen and Seguin. He added a fifth point, one off his career high, when he and Duchene assisted on Wyatt Johnston’s third-period goal.
Heiskanen added an unassisted goal as he tallied his first two of the season, and the fifth two-goal game in the defenseman’s career. Logan Stankoven also scored.
After allowing three goals on four shots in relief of Blomqvist, Nedeljkovic settled down to make 28 saves for the Penguins, who lost for the third time in four games. Tristan Jarry, recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Saturday, was a healthy scratch.
Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger rebounded from being pulled after giving up four goals in less than 30 minutes in a loss at Winnipeg on Saturday. He made 20 saves on Monday, only allowing a second-period goal by Anthony Beauvillier.
