DALLAS (AP) — Tyler Seguin scored twice, Jake Oettinger made 33 saves in his 11th career regular-season shutout and the Dallas Stars beat the New York Islanders 3-0 on Saturday night.
Seguin shot a wrister from the high slot over Semyon Varlamov’s glove at 7:59 of the first period on a feed from behind the goal line by Mason Marchment.
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Dallas Stars center Oskar Bäck (10) and New York Islanders right wing Oliver Wahlstrom (26) skate for the puck during the first period of an an NHL hockey game Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Dallas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
New York Islanders center Bo Horvat (14) and Dallas Stars defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin (46) skate for the puck during the second period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Dallas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
New York Islanders center Jean-Gabriel Pageau (44) is knocked to the ice by Dallas Stars left wing Jamie Benn, top, during the first period of an an NHL hockey game Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Dallas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
New York Islanders defenseman Ryan Pulock (6) skates with the puck against Dallas Stars center Colin Blackwell (15) during the first period of an an NHL hockey game, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Dallas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
New York Islanders goaltender Semyon Varlamov (40) and center Bo Horvat (14) defend the goal against Dallas Stars center Roope Hintz (24) during the first period of an an NHL hockey game, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Dallas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Dallas Stars center Oskar Bäck (10) skates with the puck during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the New York Islanders Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Dallas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Dallas Stars center Wyatt Johnston (53) and New York Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech (3) play the puck as Stars left wing Jamie Benn (14) and Islanders defenseman Ryan Pulock (6) reach in during the first period of an an NHL hockey game Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Dallas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Dallas Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger (29) deflects a shot on goal during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the New York Islanders, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Dallas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Dallas Stars left wing Jamie Benn (14) celebrates his goal as New York Islanders defenseman Alexander Romanov (28) looks on with referee Francois St. Laurent (8) calling the goal good during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Dallas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Dallas Stars center Tyler Seguin (91) hugs teammate Mason Marchment (27) to celebrate his goal with teammates Thomas Harley (55) and Esa Lindell (23) during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the New York Islanders Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Dallas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Jamie Benn doubled Dallas’ lead midway through the second period, collecting a loose puck between the circles when neither Kyle Palmieri nor rookie Maxim Tsyplakov could maintain control and lifted it high into the net.
Seguin added an empty-net goal in the final minute.
Marchment also assisted on Seguin’s late goal, giving him four points in two games.
Oettinger’s career record in October games is now 11-1-1.
Varlamov stopped 24 shots.
Dallas defenseman Matt Dumba played only six first-period minutes because of a lower body injury.
Islanders: The penalty kill was 2 for 2 after going 0 for 2 in Thursday’s opening 5-4 overtime loss to Utah and being ranked last in the NHL last season.
Stars: Benn and Seguin show no signs of slowing. Benn, 35, ranks second in career games played for the Minnesota-Dallas franchise with 1,114 while Seguin, 33, is eighth with 768.
The Islanders nearly pulled within 2-1 five minutes into the third period. Bo Horvat, who scored in New York’s previous five games against Dallas including two overtime winners last season, was stoned by Oettinger at close range. Horvat hit the post later in the period.
Less has been more — or at least enough — in terms of shots on goal for the Stars through two games. They were outshot 36-20 in Thursday’s 4-3 win at Nashville and were outshot 33-27 by the Islanders.
The Islanders will play the second game of a three-game road trip at Colorado on Monday night. The Stars host Seattle on Sunday night.
AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL
Dallas Stars center Oskar Bäck (10) and New York Islanders right wing Oliver Wahlstrom (26) skate for the puck during the first period of an an NHL hockey game Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Dallas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
New York Islanders center Bo Horvat (14) and Dallas Stars defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin (46) skate for the puck during the second period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Dallas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
New York Islanders center Jean-Gabriel Pageau (44) is knocked to the ice by Dallas Stars left wing Jamie Benn, top, during the first period of an an NHL hockey game Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Dallas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
New York Islanders defenseman Ryan Pulock (6) skates with the puck against Dallas Stars center Colin Blackwell (15) during the first period of an an NHL hockey game, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Dallas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
New York Islanders goaltender Semyon Varlamov (40) and center Bo Horvat (14) defend the goal against Dallas Stars center Roope Hintz (24) during the first period of an an NHL hockey game, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Dallas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Dallas Stars center Oskar Bäck (10) skates with the puck during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the New York Islanders Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Dallas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Dallas Stars center Wyatt Johnston (53) and New York Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech (3) play the puck as Stars left wing Jamie Benn (14) and Islanders defenseman Ryan Pulock (6) reach in during the first period of an an NHL hockey game Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Dallas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Dallas Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger (29) deflects a shot on goal during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the New York Islanders, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Dallas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Dallas Stars left wing Jamie Benn (14) celebrates his goal as New York Islanders defenseman Alexander Romanov (28) looks on with referee Francois St. Laurent (8) calling the goal good during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Dallas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Dallas Stars center Tyler Seguin (91) hugs teammate Mason Marchment (27) to celebrate his goal with teammates Thomas Harley (55) and Esa Lindell (23) during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the New York Islanders Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Dallas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
COACHELLA, Calif. (AP) — With the presidency on the line in battlegrounds like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, Donald Trump spent Saturday night in solidly liberal California, seeking to link Vice President Kamala Harris to what he described as the failures of her home state.
Trump is almost certain to lose California, and that won’t change after his Saturday stop in Coachella, a desert city east of Los Angeles best known for the annual music festival bearing its name. Still, Trump took advantage of his visit to tear into the nation's most populous state, bringing up its recent struggles with homelessness, water shortages and a lack of affordability. Harris, the Democratic nominee, was previously the state’s junior senator and attorney general.
“We’re not going to let Kamala Harris do to America what she did to California,” Trump said, referring to the state as as “Paradise Lost.”
The former president lost California in a landslide in 2020. He did get 6 million-plus votes, more than any GOP presidential candidate before, and his margins topped 70% in some rural counties that typically favor conservatives on the ballot.
That’s an enormous pool of potential volunteers to work on state races and participate in phone banks into the most contested states. And Trump drew media coverage in the Los Angeles market, the second-largest in the country.
Trump visited Coachella in between stops in Nevada, at a roundtable in Las Vegas for Latinos earlier Saturday — where he praised Hispanics as having “such energy” — and Arizona, for a rally Sunday in Prescott Valley. He narrowly lost those two swing states to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020.
Attendees who waited in broiling temperatures that approached 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) said they didn't expect Trump to win their state but were thrilled to see him.
“It’s like a convention of like-minded people,” said Tom Gibbons of Palm Desert, who's backed Trump since 2016 but been unable to see him in person until Saturday, as he waited in line. “Everybody understands the heartbeat of America, the plight of the working man ... It’s reassuring.”
Going to California gives Trump the “ability to swoop in and leverage this big population of Trump supporters,” said Tim Lineberger, who was communications director for Trump’s 2016 campaign in Michigan and also worked in the former president’s administration. He’s “coming here and activating that.”
Lineberger recalled Californians making calls to Michigan voters in 2016 on Trump's behalf and said the campaign's decision to go into safe, Democratic turf at this point was “an aggressive, offensive play.”
California is also a fountain of campaign cash for both parties, and Trump will be fundraising. Photos with the former president in Coachella were priced at $25,000, which comes with special seating for two. A “VIP Experience” was priced at $5,000.
Speaking for 80 minutes Saturday night, Trump ran through the standard list of Republican complaints about the Democrat-dominated state — its large number of immigrants in the U.S. illegally, its homeless population and its thicket of regulations — and waded into a water rights battle over the endangered Delta smelt that has pitted environmentalists against farmers.
The former president was particularly scathing about illegal immigration, warning at one point: “Your children are in danger. You can’t go to school with these people, these people are from a different planet.”
He continued his long-running spat with Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, whom Trump called “New-scum." Trump again threatened Newsom over the water rights battle, saying that if he didn't act in favor of farmers, “we’re not giving you any of that fire money that we send you all the time for all the forest fires that you have.”
Republicans beforehand listed a number of potential reasons for Trump's visit.
With congressional races in play that could determine which party controls the House, the Coachella rally “is a get-out-the-vote type of thing that motivates and energizes Republicans in California, when they are not as close to what is going on in the national campaign,” Republican consultant Tim Rosales said.
Jim Brulte, a former chairman of the California Republican Party, said he thinks Trump is angling for something that has eluded him in previous campaigns: winning more total votes than his Democratic opponent.
“I believe Donald Trump is coming to California because he wants to win not only in the Electoral College, but he wants to win the popular vote. There are more registered voters in California than there are residents in 46 of the other 49 states,” Brulte said.
The Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles sits on the Pacific Coast, south of the city. But Trump has long had a conflicted relationship with California, where a Republican has not carried the state since 1988 and Democrats outnumber registered Republicans by about 2-to-1.
California was home to the so-called Trump resistance during his time in office, and Trump often depicts California as representing all he sees wrong in America. As president, he called the homeless crises in Los Angeles and San Francisco disgraceful and threatened to intercede.
Newsom on Wednesday predicted Trump would be denigrating his state at the rally, overlooking its strengths as the world’s fifth-largest economy. The governor said that for the first time in a decade, California has more Fortune 500 companies than any other state.
“You know, that’s not what Trump is going to say,” he predicted.
Blood reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press writers Thomas Beaumont in Las Vegas and Nicholas Riccardi in Denver contributed to this report.
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a campaign rally at the Calhoun Ranch, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Coachella, Calif. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a campaign rally at the Calhoun Ranch, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Coachella, Calif. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Attendees and members of law enforcement watch as Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a campaign rally at the Calhoun Ranch, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Coachella, Calif. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a campaign rally at the Calhoun Ranch, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Coachella, Calif. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump puts on a campaign hat as he speaks at a campaign rally at the Calhoun Ranch, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Coachella, Calif. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a campaign rally at the Calhoun Ranch, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Coachella, Calif. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Calhoun Ranch, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Coachella, Calif. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Calhoun Ranch, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Coachella, Calif. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Calhoun Ranch, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Coachella, Calif. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump addresses the crowd as he departs after speaking at a campaign rally at the Calhoun Ranch, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Coachella, Calif. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a campaign rally at the Calhoun Ranch, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Coachella, Calif. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
FILE - California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a news conference Thursday, March 21, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Grand Sierra Resort and Casino, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in Reno, Nev. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
