Stars victorious against Predators in DeBoer's debut as coach

NASHVILLE -- The Dallas Stars won Peter DeBoer's debut as coach, 4-1 against the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena on Thursday.

Mason Marchment had two goals, Wyatt Johnston scored in his NHL debut, and Tyler Seguin had three assists for Dallas in its season opener. Jake Oettinger made 31 saves.
"If you were going to draw it up, that's probably what it would look like," DeBoer said. "Tough building against a real good team. I thought we had a team effort. There was no passengers tonight. I thought everybody contributed."
Ryan Johansen scored, and Juuse Saros made 25 saves for Nashville (2-1-0).
"I didn't see the usual juice and spark that we play with," Predators coach John Hynes said. "I thought the guys put the effort in, but we just didn't have the same juice that we normally would be able to play with. I thought we were sporadic. There were certain times in the game where you could see we had it, but it was very inconsistent.
"I thought our execution wasn't where it needed to be today."

Marchment, who signed a four-year contract July 13, gave the Stars a 1-0 lead at 2:31 of the first period on a breakaway. He made it 2-0 at 18:56 on the power play, scoring off a pass from defenseman Nils Lundkvist, who was acquired from the New York Rangers on Sept. 22.
"I don't think it could have went better," Marchment said of his Dallas debut. "We got a big win, and I couldn't have asked for a better start."

Joe Pavelski made it 3-0 at 19:09 of the second period, tapping in a loose puck after Roope Hintz fanned on a shot attempt.
Johnston extended the Stars lead to 4-0 at 4:22 of the third period with a one-timer from Seguin at the bottom of the left face-off circle on the power play.
"It was a lot of fun," Johnson. "It's just kind of a lifelong dream kind of come true. It was great, first of all, to get the win and it was just so much fun. It's hard to put it into words really. It's just surreal."

The 19-year-old was selected by Dallas in the first round (No. 23) of the 2021 NHL Draft.
"I'm so happy for him," Seguin said. "I told him before the game that I scored my first goal in my second game and he's got to try to one-up me."
Johansen redirected Eeli Tolvanen's shot at 4:53 for the 4-1 final.
"I played with 'Tolvy' all last year," Johansen said. "Love the kid. He's a horse. He's a little pit bull. He does a lot of good things out there. He earns everything he gets. I know what to expect from him. I thought he played a solid game."
NOTES: Marchment became the seventh player in Stars/Minnesota North Stars history to score multiple goals in his debut. The last player to accomplish the feat was Jaromir Jagr (two goals, Jan. 19, 2013). ... Johnston (19 years, 151 days) became the second-youngest player in Stars/North Stars history to score in his NHL debut. Dave Archibald (18 years, 179 days) scored twice for Minnesota on Oct. 10, 1987. ... Predators forward Cody Glass did not play due to illness and is day to day. … The Predators were playing their first game in North America after defeating the San Jose Sharks twice in the NHL Global Series in Prague to open the regular season. ... Dallas is the third team in NHL history with at least one goal by a teenager (Johnston) and one by a player age 38 or older (Pavelski) in a season opener, joining the Quebec Nordiques (Mats Sundin and Guy Lafleur, Oct. 4, 1990) and Florida Panthers (Jonathan Huberdeau and Alex Kovalev, Jan. 19, 2013).