The Dallas Stars have been excellent in the third period this season and now lead the NHL with 64 goals scored during the final frame of regulation.
Leading 2-1 after two periods against the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday night, Dallas erupted for three goals in the third period to come away with a convincing 5-1 win over a fellow Western Conference playoff contender.
“We did what we were supposed to do against a team on the end of a seven-game road trip coming off of a back-to-back, and that was start off well and finish well,” Stars head coach Pete DeBoer told the media postgame. “We let them back in in the middle there with a couple of penalties to start the second, but we did what we were supposed to do to a team in that situation.”
Drew Doughty’s power-play goal for Los Angeles cut into the Dallas lead early in the second period, but Wyatt Johnston reclaimed Dallas’ momentum with a wrist shot off a turnover that beat Cam Talbot glove-side. Joe Pavelski added another 1:03 later, and Sam Steel closed it out with a shorthanded goal with about half the period left.
“It was a 2-1 game at that time,” Johnston said of his goal. “Jake [Oettinger] was awesome. One goal gives us a little bit of a cushion and then we were able to get a couple more after that which is huge. It was a tight game for the whole time.”
Oettinger helped Dallas keep its one-goal lead, making 16 saves before Johnston’s goal, and ended the night with 31 saves.
The Stars have scored three third-period goals in back-to-back games after rallying from a 1-0 deficit against Chicago on Saturday. They have one more third-period goal than the Colorado Avalanche, the only other team to have reached the 60-goal plateau in the third period this season.
Dallas has scored 158 total goals this season and averages 3.67 per game — both good for the third-most in the NHL.
The Stars (26-12-5) now head off on a four-game road trip, which kicks off against the Philadelphia Flyers (24-14-6) at 6 p.m. CT on Thursday.
