{"id":442734,"date":"2026-02-03T05:48:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T05:48:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/442734\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T05:48:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T05:48:17","slug":"stars-officially-back-on-track-after-fifth-straight-win-in-familiar-ot-thriller-vs-jets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/442734\/","title":{"rendered":"Stars officially back on track after fifth straight win in familiar OT thriller vs. Jets"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mikko Rantanen gave the American Airlines Center crowd an early taste of what fans can expect if Team USA and Team Finland match up in the elimination rounds of the 2026 Winter Olympics.<\/p>\n

With less than eight minutes to play in Monday\u2019s 4-3 overtime win over the Winnipeg Jets, the Stars<\/a> were in a neck-and-neck third period with their divisional rival when their points leader made the play of the game, dragging multiple defenders before laying Jets goalie and projected Team USA starter Connor Hellebuyck flat on his back with a backhanded shot.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe game is slower for some of those guys, and he\u2019s one of them,\u201d Stars coach Glen Gulutzan. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to win in this league without star players, and that\u2019s what he is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rantanen, whose goal was his 20th of the season, finished with two points to lift the Stars to their fifth consecutive win as the Olympic break nears.<\/p>\n

Sports Roundup<\/p>\n

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Rantanen\u2019s goal could\u2019ve and should\u2019ve secured the win. But the Stars have had a recent issue of allowing opponents to climb back into games in the third period. They did so again with 1:43 remaining in regulation when Logan Stanley tied the game at 3-3 while the Jets had an extra attacker on. The puck barely deflected off Rantanen\u2019s stick before going in the net.<\/p>\n

But in overtime, Stars goalie Jake Oettinger outlasted his soon-to-be Team USA teammate. Oettinger stopped Mark Scheifele on a breakaway before Thomas Harley scored the game-winning goal at the other end.<\/p>\n

Matt Duchene and Harley, two players who have struggled more than normal and fought through injuries, combined for the game-winner. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou need them,\u201d Gulutzan said. \u201cTheir play has elevated, and it\u2019s elevated our team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harley had also scored the series-clinching goal against the Jets in the second round of the playoffs last year.<\/p>\n

Monday\u2019s contest was thrilling from the start. Despite a scoreless first period, both teams had ample chances, and their netminders made eight saves apiece. Solid showings for Oettinger and Hellebuyck ended with 24 saves each.<\/p>\n

The Stars played Winnipeg physically from the start, with Adam Erne leading Dallas with five hits in the first period alone.<\/p>\n

Neither team broke through on the scoresheet until the start of the second period. A hooking penalty on Jonathan Toews put Dallas on the power play at the start of the second period where Jason Robertson had a flawless slot deflection off a pass from Rantanen to give Dallas the early lead.<\/p>\n

But the Stars\u2019 lead lasted less than two minutes. As \u201cOtter\u2019s better\u201d chats rang out from the AAC crowd, Oettinger let in Winnipeg\u2019s first goal of the night \u2014 a follow up by Gabriel Vilardi off a rush chance. A penalty by Rantanen a minute later then put Winnipeg up a man and led to Cole Perfetti giving his team the 2-1 lead.<\/p>\n

The Stars had a prime opportunity to answer when two Jets penalties put the Stars on a 5-on-3 advantage for 1:14, but Dallas couldn\u2019t register a shot on goal. Wyatt Johnston and Miro Heiskanen whiffed on shots, as the top unit spent nearly three minutes straight on the ice across the two penalties.<\/p>\n

The Stars ultimately found their answer late in the second period when Nils Lundkvist scored by crashing the net \u2014 his third goal of the season and first since Dec. 27.<\/p>\n

The two teams passed the halfway point of the period tied at 2-2 before Rantanen\u2019s highlight-reel play and Stanley\u2019s timely answer.<\/p>\n

But Harley helped the Stars win their second straight contest that reached overtime or a shootout. Before that, the Stars had lost four consecutive games that went past regulation.<\/p>\n

After a rough stretch in late December and most of January<\/a>, the Stars have gotten back on track, tying their longest win streak of the season.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ll have the chance to set a new season-long win streak on Wednesday against St. Louis at home before the league pauses play for 2\u00bd weeks while many of its players travel to Milan.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re big points,\u201d Rantanen said. \u201cObviously, Colorado and Minnesota, they don\u2019t lose a lot of games, so we can\u2019t lose either.<\/p>\n

\u201cTook us a little bit too long to get this going, but we\u2019re. here now. Can\u2019t look back anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stars make first trade ahead of deadline for defenseman prospect from Calgary<\/a>Stars-Jets preview: Dallas looks to continue hot streak in lead-up to Olympic break<\/a><\/p>\n

Find more Stars coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mikko Rantanen gave the American Airlines Center crowd an early taste of what fans can expect if Team…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":442735,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5121],"tags":[301,147,5,424,78,270,4,43,197,2392,77,18,5288],"class_list":{"0":"post-442734","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-winnipeg-jets","8":"tag-article","9":"tag-dallas-stars","10":"tag-hockey","11":"tag-jake-oettinger","12":"tag-jets","13":"tag-mikko-rantanen","14":"tag-nhl","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-stars","17":"tag-thomas-harley","18":"tag-winnipeg","19":"tag-winnipeg-jets","20":"tag-winnipegjets"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116005129766118865","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442734"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442734\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/442735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}