The Dallas Stars (23-7-5) beat the San Jose Sharks (17-15-3) 5-3 at the SAP Center on Thursday night.
Roope Hintz, Wyatt Johnston, Justin Hryckowian, and Jamie Benn scored for the Stars. Jake Oettinger made 34 saves.
Shakir Mukhamadullin and Collin Graf scored for the Sharks. Alex Nedeljkovic made 24 saves.
Game Recap
Hintz opened the scoring at 12:25 of the first period to give the Stars a 1-0 lead. Hintz got behind the defense at the top of the crease, took Rantanen’s pass from behind the net, and directed the puck past Nedeljkovic’s right pad.
Zack Ostapchuk seemed to have tied the game with a tip-in goal, but after further review, it was deemed no goal.
The Stars doubled their lead at 17:38 with Johnston’s 18th goal of the season. With his back to the defender, Johnston protected the puck, spun to the inside edge of the left circle, and shot a perfect wrist shot into the top right corner, beating Nedeljkovic glove-side.
The Sharks got one back at 1:43 of the middle frame with Mukhamadullin’s point-shot that snuck through the five-hole of Oettinger.
At 16:44, Johnston scored his second of the game, this time on the power play, with a one-timer in the mid slot off a perfect behind-the-net pass from Rantanen.
After the Sharks controlled much of the middle part of the second, Graf brought the Sharks to within one at 16:44. Macklin Celebrini threw the puck to the front of the net, and after Oettinger stopped Graf’s original shot, Graf whacked home the rebound for his seventh of the season.
Hryckowian scored what was essentially an empty-net goal after Nedeljkovic mishandled the puck behind the net, and sent it right down the middle, where Hryckowian was waiting to give the Stars a 4-2 lead heading into the third period.
Graf scored his second of the night on a beautiful tic-tac-toe play from Celebrini to Igor Chernyshov to Graf, who shovelled the puck in from the top of the crease.
Oettinger was unbeatable in the final 10 minutes as the Sharks dominated to close the period, and Benn rewarded him with an empty-net goal from the defensive zone to seal the 5-3 victory.
The Sharks outshot the Stars 37-30 and went 0-for-3 on the power play. The Stars went 1-for-1.
Up Next
The Stars continue their mini California road trip on Friday as they take on the Anaheim Ducks, while the Sharks will host the Seattle Kraken on Saturday.
