Stars Survive to Bank Crucial Points in Win Over Flames

Despite going down by two goals in the third period, the Dallas Stars survived the opportunistic Calgary Flames with a 4-3 overtime win to keep Dallas two points ahead of the chasing Minnesota Wild.

Staring the bottom-feeding Flames down, the Stars knew they needed to secure a win Tuesday night as the Central Division standings inched closer and closer. The Wild were only one win behind Dallas for home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. And with Colorado's win over St. Louis Tuesday, the Stars are now locked into their first round battle with Minnesota. Even more importantly, the two teams face each other for the final time Thursday night with second place squarely on the line.

An incredibly low-event start left both teams scoreless after one period, but the Stars managed the first goal after several failed power plays. Justin Hryckowian scored his 13th of the season on the first lucky bounce that went the Stars way, with a blasted point shot bouncing off the end boards and right back to the side of the net, where Hryckowian shoveled it home for the goal. Previously, the Stars had rung two posts on the power play and fired an easy chance just wide of the net.

The Stars, up a goal, had locked the Flames out of any type of sustained offense, but big man Adam Klapka muscled his way around the offensive zone and left a rebound for Joel Farabee to backhand home for the tying goal just past the midway point of the game.

Then as the period was drawing to a close, Klapka used his long reach to barely keep a puck in the zone, maneuvering it to Yegor Sharangovich for the go-ahead goal with just over a minute remaining in the second.

The Stars only had eight shots on goal through two periods, and needed to kick into gear to try and get the win in the third period. A late second period penalty, though, put Dallas on the penalty kill to start the third, and it took little time for Zayne Parekh to rip a wrist shot past an unscreened Jake Oettinger for the 3-1 lead.

It was clear Dallas was in big trouble at that point, but the message to amp up the offense was still clearly received, and luckily for the Stars, Wyatt Johnston punched home a loose rebound from a Mikko Rantanen shot less than a minute later. Head coach Glen Gulutzan switched the lines up for the third, moving Jason Robertson with Matt Duchene and Mavrik Borque, and promoting Hryckowian to play with Rantanen and Johnston. The move worked, and the offense was sparked.

Still needing one goal to tie, Dallas poured on the pressure, and Robertson cashed in less than five minutes into the period to pull even at 3-3. It hadn't taken long and the Stars were right back in it. Calgary had some good chances down the stretch, but Oettinger stood tall to send the game to overtime.

With just over four minutes left in overtime, Robertson took a vicious high stick to the face and drew a double minor as blood from his nose dotted the ice. The Stars poured the pressure on, and just over two minutes into the four minute penalty, Johnston deked out goaltender Devin Cooley with a nasty forehand to backhand move and secured a crucial second point for the Stars.

Now, all attention turns to the confirmed first round preview on Thursday night, when Minnesota comes to town still only a regulation win from catching Dallas at 104 points. The stakes are high, and surely both teams will want an early message to be sent to the other team about how things will go just over a week later.

The Stars and Wild will drop the puck later than usual at 8 p.m. on Thursday, exclusively on ESPN+ and Hulu.

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