The Dallas Stars jumped out to a 2-0 lead over the Blackhawks and held on for the 3-1 win on Thursday.
The win kept Dallas unbeaten on home ice, as the Stars moved to 6-0-0 at the American Airlines Center. It couldn’t have been done without Sam Steel, who led the way with two points in the win.
But aside from Steel’s strong play, Jamie Benn brought it in the faceoff circle. Not only did he dominate faceoffs, but he did so in historic fashion.
Benn went 16-0 on faceoffs in the win, becoming just the sixth player to ever win at least 16 faceoffs without losing a single one since the league started tracking them in 1997.
Dave Scatchard and Curtis Brown both went 19-for-19 in the faceoff circle in 2000 for the Islanders and 2001 for the Sabres, respectively. Patrice Bergeron went 17-for-17 with the Bruins in 2017, as did Bo Horvat for the Canucks in 2022.
Benn’s perfomance rounds out the top six, as he tied Colton Sissons’ 16-of-16 performance with the Predators in 2022.
As a team, Dallas won 71.4% of the faceoffs in Wednesday’s win thanks in large part to Benn and Roope Hintz, who won 12 of his 14 faceoffs.
After his performance vs. Chicago, Benn has now won 62 of his 95 faceoffs this season, good for a 65.3% faceoff win percentage. That 65.3% ranks second in the NHL among qualifiers, just behind the Sharks’ Nico Sturm, who sports a 65.9% win percentage.
