The Dallas Stars finished their Eastern Conference road swing with a victory over the Montreal Canadiens.

The Dallas Stars were looking to end their three-game Eastern Conference road trip on a positive note. A victory over the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre in a Saturday matinee would send them home with a 2-1-0 mark, the one loss coming Wednesday in Toronto against the Maple Leafs.

They succeeded, with Tyler Seguin scoring two goals and Thomas Harley adding another for a 3-2 Stars win. Dallas left Montreal having won two of the three games on the trip and became the third team in the NHL to reach 70 points this season, moving their record to 32-14-6. Montreal came into the matchup having lost five of their last seven games.

Matt Duchene and Mason Marchment each had two assists, while Jake Oettinger was steady in goal, stopping 18 of 20 Montreal shots.

The first 40 minutes played like two different games. Both teams battled through a scoreless first period, and were dead even in shots on goal at 6-6.

All the scoring in the game took place in the second period. It didn't take the Canadiens long to strike first. After receiving a perfectly-placed pass from Cole Caulfield, Nick Suzuki sent a bullet over Oettinger's right shoulder 38 seconds into the period for a 1-0 Montreal lead.

Nearly four minutes later, Harley beat Montreal goalie Sam Montebeault on a shot from the slot to tie the game.

Prior to the goal, the Canadiens' Rafael Harvey-Pinard collided with teammate Joel Armia in the neutral zone not far from the Montreal bench and fell to the ice. He had to leave the game with what the team later called a lower body injury. Harley took advantage of the unfortunate mishap to score his 13th goal of the season.

Seguin scored the first of his two goals just 24 seconds later after a nice centering pass from Duchene, putting a shot between Montebeault's pads to give Dallas a 2-1 lead.

Seguin got his second goal on another Duchene feed from the left corner at 17:45 to increase the margin to 3-1.

The Canadiens scored their final goal at the 18:37 mark on Juraj Slafkovsky's 10th goal of the season to draw within 3-2.

Some takeaways from the game:

1. Special teams had mixed results.

The Stars had a disastrous penalty-kill effort Wednesday against the Maple Leafs, who scored three of their five goals on the power-play.

Dallas fared much better in that department against the Canadiens, holding them scoreless in four chances. In their previous five games, the Stars allowed a whopping eight goals in 13 penalty-kill opportunities. The effort in Montreal was much better, but they need to show more consistency and improve clearing the puck.

On the flip side, the Stars' power-play unit couldn't muster a goal in six tries, so that aspect of the special-teams unit still needs some work.

2. Close shaves are becoming the norm.

The last seven games have been decided by one goal, with the Stars going 6-1-0 during that stretch. The last game with a bigger margin of victory was a 6-2 win over the New Jersey Devils January 20.

The game in Montreal was won in the second period, with both teams scoring all their goals during the frame. The Stars outshot the Canadiens 38-20 for the game and 21-7 in the second period. Dallas's defense, which crumbled in the third period in the loss to Toronto, stiffened in the third period in Montreal, holding the Canadiens scoreless.

As nail-biting as these one-goal affairs are, the Stars should certainly be battle-tested come playoff time, when the stakes are higher and the competition gets much tougher.

3. Oettinger may be rounding into form.

Though the sample size is small, Jake Oettinger looks to be on his A game since helping Team Matthews to the championship during All-Star Weekend. After stopping a career-high 47 of 48 shots against Buffalo on Tuesday, Otter didn't have to work quite as hard against the Habs, stopping 18 of 20 shots.

The win extended Oettinger's career-long NHL winning streak to five games. It's the longest by a Stars goalie since 2018-19, when Ben Bishop won six consecutive games.

If Dallas wants to go deep into the postseason, Oettinger has to be at the top of his game. Two games may not be enough to tell if he is just yet, but the signs are encouraging.

Make sure you bookmark THN's Dallas Stars site for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns, and so much more.

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