Following the NHL All-Star Break, the Dallas Stars began the second half of the 2021-22 season with a 4-3 win over the Nashville Predators. Jason Robertson scored two powerplay goals, and Luke Glendening scored the game-winner at American Airlines Arena on February 9.
The Dallas victory pushes the Stars to 24-18-2 on the season for a total of 50 points, good for fifth place in the Western Central (Colorado’s 68 points places them in first), and third place in the wild card behind both St. Louis (57) and Calgary (54.)
“We had talked yesterday, and even today, about this is going to be a playoff-type game, and it was,” Stars head coach Rick Bowness said. “It was a great hockey game out there, and you need those kinds of efforts …we got good games from everybody tonight. That was a hell of a hockey game.”
“We had a great third period against Boston, and we didn’t against Calgary, but we had a great third period tonight,” Bowness said. “It’s a sixty-minute game, and with Winnipeg coming here Friday, it is going to be the same type of game. It’s going to be a grind, it’s going to be a playoff-type game, and you have got to fight for every inch of the ice.”
John Klingberg had two assists, 24 on the season, and Jake Oettinger made 20 saves for the Stars to push his record to 12-5-0 for the season.
Robertson’s first goal followed a Klingberg shot with a 4-on-3 advantage when he cleaned up for the first power play goal at 8:58 of the first period to give Dallas a 1-0 lead. Klingberg and Robertson connected again in the second frame on a tip-in power play goal for Robertson’s second of the game to make it 2-1 at 16:18 of the period.
At 17:59, Roope Hintz collected a bouncing puck from Luke Kunin inside the blue line and scored on a breakaway with a backhand shot to make it 3-2 for Dallas.
Glendening then unknotted the 3-3 tie at 3:24 of the third period with a nifty 2-on-1 cross-ice pass from Michael Raffl for the eventual game-winning goal.
Next up for the Stars is a tilt with the Winnipeg Jets, who currently sport a 19-7-7 record, good for sixth place in the Central with 45 total points, just five points behind Dallas in fourth place. The Stars will look to avenge the 4-3 to the Jets on November 1. The Jets come into Friday night’s contest with a record of 6-4 over the last ten games, while the Stars are 3-5-2 in the same span.
Tickets for the game against Winnipeg on Friday, February 11, can be purchased here.
