A puck can strike the post without counting as a shot on goal, a small bookkeeping distinction with a very real consequence. Radek Faksa’s return to the Dallas lineup offered the clearest example Tuesday in Washington: his attempt found iron, Joel Kiviranta collected the loose puck and the Stars began a wild 6-5 victory with a lead they would repeatedly need.
The goal arrived 8:56 into the opening period, when Washington had supplied the more assertive start by Dallas coach Glen Gulutzan’s assessment. The first-period shot count was nearly even—Dallas held a 7-6 edge—but the Capitals had made the early stretch uncomfortable. Faksa’s contact with the post changed the question from whether Washington would control the frame to whether the visitors could punish the next moment.
Kiviranta did exactly that. He backhanded the loose puck into the net, with Faksa and Thomas Harley credited with assists. Kiviranta finished the night with one shot on goal, and it was the goal that put Dallas ahead.
Faksa ended his 13:38 return with no official shot on net, but his contribution began the scoring sequence and forced Washington to handle a rebound situation instead of simply moving on from a missed attempt.
That is more useful than pretending the box score is wrong. The zero beside Faksa’s shots is accurate. It simply does not describe the whole play.
He had been out of the lineup for four games because of a lower-body injury, and his first meaningful imprint was a post rather than a registered attempt. For a player re-entering the game, that is tangible work without making one assist carry a season-long verdict.
Kiviranta’s part was less glamorous and more decisive. The first puck did not stay where Washington wanted it, and he was in position to turn the second action into a goal. The finish required awareness and quick hands, not a lengthy offensive sequence.
Dallas had one goal on the board before the game’s scoring became a carnival, and that first conversion prevented the early Capitals push from becoming the night’s governing story.
Then came the second period, which supplied nearly all the chaos the opening goal had temporarily restrained. Dallas scored four times, Washington answered three times, and the Stars entered the third with a 5-3 advantage.
Jason Robertson’s three goals crammed into 5:20 became the obvious headline, including a power-play wrist shot 23 seconds into the period and a point shot that went past the goalie via the right post, 5:43 into the frame. Those were the spectacular pieces.
Kiviranta’s goal remained the first piece, the one that made every later Dallas surge an expansion of an existing lead rather than a rescue mission.
