Oskar Back scored, and Jake Oettinger made 22 saves for the Stars (27-13-9), who are 1-3-1 in their past five games and have won just twice since the Christmas break (2-6-3).
“I think it’s just a story of they’re 11-0-1, now 12-0-1 in their last [13 games], and they just stayed with their game longer than we did. They won more battles,” Dallas coach Glen Gulutzan said. “Quite frankly, the second and third goals were mistakes by our guys that are in our top two lines that are just pressing. I think all night they won more battles, especially in the second half, and they stayed with their game longer than we did.”
Back gave the Stars a 1-0 lead at 4:00 of the first period when he swiped the puck into the net after it trickled under the pads of Vasilevskiy.
“It feels like [at] the start we were playing simple, putting pucks and getting pucks back on the forecheck. When things kind of start going against us, we get a little frustrated and try to do a bit much,” Back said. “We’re trying to find scoring anywhere right now. Everyone is trying to find something. Hopefully it’ll click soon.”
James tied it 1-1 at 8:04. He skated into the zone on a 3-on-2 rush and passed to Guentzel, who sent the puck back to him for a shot from below the left circle.
“That was a huge goal by James. On the road, they score first, and then [we] score within (almost) four minutes, it’s a little bit of a momentum shift for us,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “They compete hard, they go get into those rough areas, corners in front of the net. Our guys [played] hard and that’s paid off.”