The Dallas Stars (23-7-5) defeated the San Jose Sharks (17-15-3) 5-3 on Thursday night at the SAP Center.
Roope Hintz, Wyatt Johnston, Justin Hryckowian and Jamie Benn scored for the Stars. Jake Oettinger made 34 saves.
Shakir Mukhamadullin and Collin Graf scored for the Sharks. Alex Nedeljkovic made 24 saves.
Summary of the game
Hintz opened the scoring at 12:25 of the first period to give the Stars a 1-0 lead. Hintz got behind the defense at the top of the crease, took Rantanen’s pass from behind the net and directed the puck past Nedeljkovic’s right pad.
Zack Ostapchuk appeared to have tied the game with a tip-in goal, but after further investigation it was ruled a no-goal.
The Stars doubled their lead at 17:38 with Johnston’s 18th goal of the season. With his back to the defenseman, Johnston protected the puck, pivoted to the inside edge of the left circle and fired a perfect wrist shot into the top right corner, beating Nedeljkovic with the glove.
The Sharks got one back at 1:43 of the middle frame with Mukhamadullin’s point shot sneaking through Oettinger’s five-hole.
At 16:44, Johnston scored his second of the game, this time on the power play, with a one-timer up the middle after a perfect pass behind Rantanen’s net.
After the Sharks controlled much of the middle portion of the second, Graf brought the Sharks within one at 4:44. Macklin Celebrini threw the puck to the front of the net, and after Oettinger stopped Graf’s original shot, Graf knocked home the rebound for his seventh of the season.
Hryckowian scored what was essentially an empty-net goal after Nedeljkovic mishandled the puck behind the net and sent it straight up the middle, where Hryckowian waited to give the Stars a 4-2 lead heading into the third period.
Graf scored his second of the night after a beautiful tic-tac-toe play from Celebrini through Igor Chernyshov to Graf, who slid the puck in from the top of the crease.
Oettinger was unbeatable in the final 10 minutes as the Sharks dominated to end the period, and Benn rewarded him with an empty-net goal from the defensive zone to seal the 5-3 victory.
The Sharks outscored the Stars 37-30 and went 0-for-3 on the power play. The Stars went 1-for-1.
Next
The Stars continue their mini road trip through California Friday when they take on the Anaheim Duckswhile the Sharks host the Seattle Kraken on Saturday.
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