With trips to Milan, Mexico and wherever else the Dallas Stars may be traveling to over the next three weeks just within reach, they may have let their minds wander into the Olympic break a period early.
Despite holding a two-goal lead entering the third, Dallas watched that lead vanish in the last five minutes of regulation. But captain Jamie Benn put his team on his back in the game’s final minute to lift Dallas to a 5-4 win over the St. Louis Blues. The win extends Dallas’ streak to a season-long six games entering the break.
Wednesday was the Stars’ third game in two weeks against the Blues where they won in the final 90 seconds of regulation.
“Obviously, we’d like to clean that up, but they pushed. When teams push, they can make things happen,” Stars forward Matt Duchene said. “But we got it done. Some big plays by some guys.”
Sports Roundup
Benn’s goal off a cross-ice pass from Miro Heiskanen was his second of the night. The captain finished with two goals and an assist to extend his points streak to four games. He had gone 15 games without a goal before Wednesday night. Duchene and Jason Robertson each added a goal and an assist in the win.
The Stars had jump from the start, outshooting the Blues 12-5 in the first period, but St. Louis was opportunistic and picked up an early lead.
Goals by Pavel Buchnevich and Jordan Kyrou gave the Blues an advantage at the first intermission over Robertson’s 200th career goal which came in between. Mikko Rantanen drew Blues goalie Jordan Binnington and found Robertson with a perfect pass to set him up with an open net.
The Stars took over in the second period. A penalty on the Blues with 4.8 seconds left in the first gave Dallas the man-advantage to start the second where Duchene scored his sixth goal in six games. Two minutes after that, Mavrik Bourque caused trouble for Binnington in front of the net. Benn added another later in the period.
After recording 25 shots on goal in the first two periods, Dallas was held without a shot for the first 12 minutes of the third and finished with just three all period. St. Louis capitalized as Jimmy Snuggerud scored an unassisted goal weaving through all of the Dallas defense. Then, Alexey Toropchenko tied the game at 4-4 on the rush with 4:29 left in regulation.
As strong as Dallas has been in its six-game win streak, the Stars have allowed opponents to climb back into games repeatedly in the third. It’s a trend that can’t continue after the break.
Luckily for Dallas, Benn found the deciding goal late to prevent overtime off a heads-up play by Heiskanen.
“When he grabbed the puck, the first thing that crossed my mind when I saw he kept going was, ‘he is determined to make something happen,’” Gulutzan said of Heiskanen.
Related
Stars goalie Jake Oettinger made 14 saves in the win before he heads to Milan later this week to represent Team USA. Binnington, who will play for Team Canada, made 23 saves.
The Stars leave themselves in a comfortable position when they return from the break, still in the running for the Central Division crown, just six points behind the Avalanche (who have two games in hand) and one behind the Wild (but the Stars have a game in hand).
“Sometimes with these streaks, you want to keep playing,” Gulutzan said. “But it is important just with how the guys feel on the break. They can feel good about themselves and take some time.”