Cup Final hangover? The Stars showed no sign of one while pounding the Predators in their COVID-19 delayed opener

Four minutes before the Stars opened their season by throttling the Nashville Predators 7-0 on Friday night, they congregated on their bench and looked skyward.

Anton Khudobin, mask flipped to his forehead, abandoned his crease to peer up. Players on the bench turned to the video board to relive their run to the Stanley Cup Final in September. Slowly, a black shade lifted to reveal the new Western Conference Champions banner earned in Edmonton and displayed directly above Khudobin’s vacant net.

On the blue line across from the Stars’ bench stood captain Jamie Benn, by himself, stick on the ice with his hands perched atop it in front of his face. He hardly glanced toward the shiny white banner now a part of the American Airlines Center architecture. Earlier in the day, Benn said he hadn’t even thought about the banner raising in the evening.

If any of his teammates showed any sign of a Cup Final hangover, it was apparently gone by the second period.

Dallas pounded and chased Nashville goalie Juuse Saros with five goals in the middle frame, three coming on the power play as the Stars rode strong performances from Joe Pavelski, Alexander Radulov and Khudobin to pick up their first win of the season after a COVID-19 outbreak delayed its start.

“We just needed to get this first game,” coach Rick Bowness said. “Win or lose, we had to get a game. We had to play, and fortunately we got some breaks. That’s going to happen over the next 56 games now. You’re going to have breaks going your way, you’re going to have breaks going against you.

“When you get the breaks going your way, you have to take full advantage of it, and we did tonight.”

Pavelski scored two goals and added two assists, Radulov scored two goals plus an assist, and Khudobin made 34 saves in a shutout. John Klingberg also had a three-assist night.

Benn did not play in the third period after suffering a lower-body injury in the second period when Viktor Arvidsson fell on his right knee, a cloud over an otherwise perfect start to the 2020-21 season. Bowness did not provide an update on Benn after the game.

The Stars’ power play sizzled Friday night, going 5 for 8 to wake the team after a sloppy first period fitting for a team a week behind the rest of the league.

“I can’t say for everybody, but I can say for me, I was nervous a little bit, especially because we had some fans and we didn’t play hockey games for a while,” Radulov said. “You made a good point that there wasn’t exhibition games, that was kind of nervous a little bit at first. When the puck drops, you get one, two shifts, you get one, two bumps and you get to the game.”

Less than three minutes into the second, Dallas capitalized on a 5 on 3 opportunity with Pavelski’s first, then 86 seconds later when Radulov tipped a puck between his legs. Denis Gurianov deflected home a Klingberg shot, and, in the third period, Pavelski redirected a Hintz pass with his skate.

Lost somewhere in the onslaught was Radulov’s second of the night, when an aggressive forecheck forced Saros into a turnover, then Radulov batted a floating puck past him. It was Radulov at his best: puck hunting, then displaying skill around the net.

Esa Lindell scored a short-handed goal, speeding past Norris Trophy winner Roman Josi, then beating Saros low, a welcome if unexpected offensive display for the defensive defenseman. Playoff hero Joel Kiviranta even got in on the act.

The game was a celebration of the franchise’s best season in two decades, and also the beginning of the rest of the Stars’ lives.

This year, there is no Tyler Seguin until April because of hip surgery. There is no Ben Bishop until March because of knee surgery. Ty Dellandrea and Jason Robertson were among the forwards dressed. The core remains the same as last season, but the roster’s edges wear different faces.

For the first time in his career, Khudobin started an opening night game. The 34-year-old veteran was a backup for much of his career and shined brightly during the playoffs. On Friday morning, Khudobin said there was no difference for him entering with the No. 1 tag.

“Just get ready and try to stop the pucks,” Khudobin said.

As the Stars sliced through the Nashville defense, Khudobin kept the Predators at bay by making his typically acrobatic saves, and the American Airlines Center crowd broke into muffled versions of “Do-bby, Do-bby” chants.

Khudobin will have to be one of the team’s best players again this season, if he wants to look skyward next season toward another banner with slightly different wording.

“Maybe we’re not champions last year, but at the same time, it still gives us a little bit more emotions, I would say, just because you’re still champions of the conference,” Khudobin said. “It’s going to be a little bit more emotions. It goes under your belt. It goes in your history of hockey. It goes to your museum at home. It’s pretty special. I think it’s going to be interesting.”

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