The Dallas Stars were able to defeat the Winnipeg Jets in an early playoff rematch with a score of 5-4. Both teams combined to score seven goals in the third period in what was a wild night from start to finish.
Mikko Rantanen, Nils Lundkvist, Jason Robertson, Tyler Seguin and Wyatt Johnston scored for the Stars. Jake Oettinger made 21 saves on 25 shots.
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Newly extended Kyle Connor scored three goals, while Morgan Barron scored the other for the Jets. Connor Hellebuyck made 32 saves on 37 shots.
Summary of the game
The Stars got on the board early in the first period, when Rantanen cleared a loose puck in front of the net at 3:15.
Connor tied the game at 1-1 just over three minutes later after juggling a pass from Mark Scheifele and firing the puck under Oettinger’s left arm.
The Stars restored the one-goal lead at 15:24 after Lundkvist’s shot from the slot went off the post, thanks to a beautiful Rantanen pass from the bottom of the left face-off circle.
After a scoreless second, Robertson gave the Stars a 3-1 lead with a power-play goal at 1:01 of the third. Rantanen continued his productive evening with a pass from the right corner that left Robertson all alone in front of Hellebuyck, who made the first save from his right pad but could not stop the rebound.
34 seconds later, Duchene had a nifty spin-o-rama in the neutral zone and found Seguin for a tap-in at the back post to make it 4-1.
Johnston continued the attack with a wrist shot from the slot that beat Hellebuyck’s glove side.
With the Stars on the power play, the Jets scored two shorthanded goals to cut the lead to 5-3 with less than eight minutes remaining. Barron started the game by breaking up a pass, going coast to coast and beating Oettinger with a backhand shot down the left pad. Then Connor scored his second of the night after Scheifele caught a pass off the boards from the defensive zone, sending Connor in alone. After Oettinger stopped the first attempt, Connor collected the rebound and put the puck into a wide open net.
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The Jets moved one step closer at 16:57 when Connor completed the hat trick with a shot in the slot.
The Stars were able to eliminate a penalty in the final minutes to hold on for the 5-4 victory.
The Stars outscored the Jets 37-25, going 1-for-5 on the power play, while the Jets went 0-for-4 on the man advantage.
Next
Both teams will be back in action on Saturday when the Jets host the Los Angeles Kingswhile the Stars will be in Denver to take on the Colorado Avalanche.
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