Robertson Hat Trick Propels Stars to Win in Washington

Jason Robertson's natural hat trick in the second period made it seem like the Dallas Stars had the game against the Washington Capitals all but sealed, but Dallas had to weather a third period surge to hang on to a 6-5 win in the nation's capital.

The Stars continued their sheer dominance over the Capitals, albeit much closer than expected when the final buzzer sounded. Dallas had a 4-0 lead after Robertson's second period hat trick that came in just over a five minute stretch, the third shortest hat trick in franchise history. A goal from Jordan Kyrou made it 4-1 but Mikko Rantanen extended the lead to 5-1 just a few minutes later.

Toward the end of the second, Dallas got a little sloppy and allowed Washington to slip in two goals from Boone Jenner and Jacob Chychrun to go into the second intermission only down 5-3. Chychrun's power play goal snapped a streak of 29 straight penalty kills by the Stars and was the first 5-on-4 power play goal surrendered since the second game of the season. Only Colorado had scored a 5-on-3 power play goal in between those instances.

Roope Hintz got the scoring started once more for Dallas quickly in the third period, making it 6-3 just over a minute into the final frame. Justin Sourdif brought the lead within reach just over halfway into the third, and Ryan Leonard picked the top corner with the goaltender pulled to cut the lead to 6-5. A few breathless moments later, and the Stars came away with a deserved but suddenly close victory.

Joel Kiviranta opened the scoring for Dallas with his second goal of the season, and Jake Oettinger made 20 saves in what started as a good performance but ended up with his fantastic save percentage taking a bit of a hit.

The Stars now turn their attention to a Thursday evening matchup on the road in Columbus.

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