The Dallas Stars have been in this position for the last three seasons. Three more wins until the Western Conference Finals matchup. We’ve seen what they can do in a round two series against some of the best teams in the NHL, and the Winnipeg Jets, President’s Trophy winners, are no different.

Game three shifted back to Dallas for a Mother’s Day afternoon game in American Airlines center after the Stars stole game one on the road. I was expecting a stellar game from the Stars since they got shut out in game two, and they typically make sure that doesn’t happen again. Last night in Texas Hockey: The Stars ride a hot third period to a win in emphatic fashion to a 2-1 series lead over the Winnipeg Jets.

First Period Thoughts

The first period started almost identical to the first period in game two. The Jets were called for high sticking, albeit only a two minute minor penalty, just 22 seconds into the game. The first power play didn’t look spectacular. The Jets did a great job of blocking nearly every shot on the power play and clearing the puck several times.

Luckily for the Stars, the power play got extended with a tripping call, and they had five seconds of five on three man advantage to play with. After the original penalty expired, Thomas Harley sent a pass over to Mikko Rantanen, Mikko then sends a pass over to Roope Hintz who had a Joe Pavelskian type of tip in goal.

I mentioned on Clean Sheet of Ice, our Texas Hockey podcast on Apollo Media’s podcast network, that the Stars needed to get shots on Connor Hellebuyck fast and often in the first period of game three. They did just that. While most of the shots weren’t getting to the net, there was still a great deal of offensive zone pressure.

The Jets didn’t stay down for long. A critical icing by Cody Ceci kept the tired Stars on the ice and in the defensive zone.

I’ve noticed this series, when the Jets score it’s almost always a weird play where no one on the Stars knows where the puck is. Kyle Connor’s wraparound goal was another example of that and the game was knotted up at one goal a piece.

The Stars continued great pressure in the first period and eventually got a great play from Mikael Granlund during a line change. He skated, juked, and deked his way behind the net while grabbing a tripping call in the process. Granny calmly got back to his feet and sent a pass through three or four Jet players skates over to Thomas Harley.

Thomas Harley, noted Norris Trophy winner in 2026, did the rest before the Stars even got an extra skater or the power play to start.

Last night in Texas Hockey, the Stars started aggressively and didn’t stop. It was mentioned by Head Coach Pete DeBoer that Wyatt Johnston was going to be captain of the Dallas Stars one day. Wyatt was on a rampage in the first period.

He threw hit after hit without taking away from his incredibly skilled offensive game. The line of Jamie Benn, Wyatt, and Jason Robertson were head hunting in the first period. The Stars lacked a ton of physicality in game two, but that line and Lian Bichsel made sure the Jets knew the hits were going to come, and not stop.

Second Period Thoughts

The second period was uhhhh not great. The Jets immediately played on their toes and the Stars appeared to lose a step. Playing on your heels is never a good thing, and we’ve seen it a number of times this playoffs from the Dallas Stars.

The Jets were the best team in the regular season because they had the best goaltender in the league, a great defense in front of him, and an offense that feasted on mistakes from the opposing teams.

Winnipeg showed that in the second period while the Stars had trouble getting into the offensive zone for a majority of the period, the Jets had no problem keeping offensive zone pressure on them.

About halfway through the second period, the fourth line was on the ice for the Stars. Josh Morrissey obviously made his return in game two, but I thought he really stood out through two periods of game three. Morrissey made a nasty cut on Colin Blackwell to secure open ice from the point. He then sent a beautiful pass cross ice to a wide open shooter for the easy slap shot goal.

There wasn’t really anything Jake Oettinger could do with that one. Speedy pass, speedy shot, and the game was tied at two.

The rest of the period you could say I had a lot of trouble understanding what the refs were calling and what they were not. There were multiple holding, tripping, and elbowing calls that should have been made (for both sides), but there wasn’t any. They had called a blatantly bad holding call on Jamie Benn in the first period, then he gets a clear elbow to the face in the second, but no call. Officiating in the playoffs is understandably an incredibly hard job to do.

What do you let go? What do you end up calling? In the third period it is especially tough, but in the first two periods, if you’re going to call a total of five penalties, where’s the wrong in calling a sixth if it’s that blatant?

I say all of this to say that Mason Marchment on a breakaway got tripped and the Mikko Rantanen got slashed, but he got called for a tripping penalty after the slash happened. None of it makes sense and it never will.

The Stars and Jets were tied at two headed to a pivotal game three finish in the third period.

Third Period Thoughts

This game as a whole felt eerily similar to the Stars and Avalanche game five in the previous series. The Stars had all the juice and took an early lead, but the Jets kept fighting and kept the game close or even tied for a long stretch of game time.

I felt like the game could get tilted on its head for either team quite quickly heading into this third period, and boy, did it ever. Alexander Petrovic decided to come down the offensive zone towards the net for once, and the puck bounced off his skate.

The bounces kept happening after that until Hellebuyck ended up knocking the puck into his own net for a goal. But that’s where the confusion and lengthy review happened.

We saw in the earlier parts of the Avalanche series that you can bicycle kick a puck into the net like Cristiano Ronaldo would have done dozens of times for Real Madrid. I saw no world where that goal was disallowed, but it took nearly the entirety of “Free Bird” by Lynard Skynard for the refs to officially give it a good goal. Stars grabbed the lead just over four minutes into the third period and would never let it up until that final buzzer.

Less than a minute later, Mikko Rantanen (yeah that guy), waltzed into the zone and got around three Jets defenders with a clear shot on net, and he did not miss.

Another three point night for the Moose and I’m dangerously close to joining the Finland Army.

Wyatt Johnston got a chaotic rebound into the back of the net with around six minutes left in the period for a 5-2 Stars lead. Of course if Mikko is getting all these points, the future captain Wyatt Johnston has to get his.

Postgame Thoughts

Pete DeBoer mentioned post game that this is the best bounce back team he’s ever coached. He gave credit to the leaders in the locker room, specifically Jamie Benn, for being able to take harsh criticism when needed and that it trickles down to the rest of the guys.

This team got shutout 4-0 in Colorado in game four and bounced back with a 5-2 win the next game. The Stars got shutout in Winnipeg 4-0 and bounced back with a 5-2 in game three. These things are not coincidences.

Last night in Texas Hockey: The Stars ride a hot third period to a win in emphatic fashion.