Against one of the worst teams in the league, the Dallas Stars narrowly escaped with a win.
The Stars defeated the St. Louis Blues 3-2 at American Airlines Center Friday night, as leading goal scorer Jason Robertson scored his 30th goal of the season, elevating directly off a faceoff with one minute left in regulation.
“A minute left, you try to score a goal,” Robertson said.
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Wins have been hard to come by lately for Dallas, which has won just four of its last 15 games. Earning one against the second-worst team in the NHL wasn’t easy either. The Stars’ once-hot power play went cold in the second half of the game, and their 5-on-5 offense could barely find any production, even with the return of Mikko Rantanen from an illness. Dallas was held to just 19 shots on goal.
Robertson helped Dallas avoid going to overtime, where the Stars are just 4-9 this season. The Stars have lost their last four games that went beyond regulation.
“It’s a huge goal for us,” Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said. “It’s not always how many you score. It’s when you score, and that was a big goal for us from him.”
The Stars power play started off hot thanks to its leading scorer this season, Wyatt Johnston. Johnston scored his 17th power play goal of the season off a rebound early in the first, bringing him one shy of the Dallas Stars record for most power play goals in a season. Mike Modano set the record of 18 in 1993-94. The franchise record belongs to Minnesota North Star Dino Ciccarelli, who scored 22 in 1986-87.
Dallas started with a 7-0 shot advantage in the first 11 minutes of play but couldn’t build any more cushion before Dalibor Dvorsky tied the game on a St. Louis power play.
The tide started to turn in St. Louis’ favor early in the second when the Blues started the period with a 6-0 shot advantage and took the lead 4:04 into the period. Jake Neighbours hit a trailing Pavel Buchnevich, who beat Jake Oettinger glove side.
Matt Duchene tied the game just under four minutes later on another Stars power play, snapping a five-game scoreless and four-game pointless streak.
But after a 2-for-2 start on the man advantage, Dallas’ power play went cold. The Stars had 2½ power plays in the final eight minutes of the second period and recorded just three shots on goal.
Meanwhile, the Stars couldn’t find a 5-on-5 goal until the final minute of the game. But it was ultimately enough to earn the win.
Oettinger made a few timely saves down the stretch, finishing with 20 on the night.
Dallas returned its points leader, Rantanen, to the lineup, who had missed the last two games with an illness. He was a game-time decision and didn’t take pregame line rushes, but ultimately played. However, the Finnish phenom didn’t look full strength and registered just one shot on goal.
“Rants has been sick for four days,” Gulutzan said. “I give him a lot of credit. He’s down weight. He didn’t feel great this morning. I didn’t think he was playing, and he just came and said, ‘I’m gonna play.’ It was a true game-time decision. We knew with about six minutes left in warmups.”
The Stars also lost defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin to a lower-body injury early in the second period. He never returned.
Throughout the skid, the Stars have struggled to stack wins. The Stars have not won multiple games in a row since Dec. 21.
They’ll need to beat the Blues twice in a row to do so, as Dallas will face St. Louis at its home rink Tuesday. The two division rivals will meet twice more before the Olympic break, including a Feb. 4 meeting at AAC.
“I think we’ve stacked three [good games] in a row,” Duchene said. “Overall, I think the last three games have been a way better step in the right direction and some of the best games this team’s played all year.”
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Black and blue: See photos as Stars smash St. Louis for clutch win
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