After two embarrassingly bad losses, the New York Rangers needed something to cleanse the palate.
It almost was not to be in Dallas, where the Stars jumped to a 1-0 lead with less a minute gone in the ga,e, then added a second strike for a 2-0 advantage.
Esa Lindell and Tyler Seguin were those early scorers for Dallas.
The Rangers settled down and reeled off four straight goals in the opening period to wrestle control away for Dallas.
“I think we gave up too many chances for them, didn’t take time and space away,” Lindell said. “That good team like they are, they’re going to make plays and hang on to pucks and make us run around. Then it’s kind of havoc out there. I would say (we had) poor defense. (We) got to better at that, can’t let up that many chances and goals.”
New York never gave up the lead, but were pressured twice before getting a 7-4 win.
Artemi Panarin had a goal and four assists in the New York win.
“Good game for us,” Panarin said. “Tough start again, like we do always. … Just start hard and tried to win every battle.”
The Rangers ended a four-game roadie at 2-2-0.
Igor Shesterkin made 29 saves in the New York win.
Dryden Hunt had three assists for the Rangers.
“It was kind of a must-win game for us, although it wasn’t, it kind of was just for our mental well-being,” Hunt said. “It was only two games, but it felt like a couple of weeks of just not playing our best.”
The Rangers improved to 37-17-5.
The Rangers rallied to tie the game, 2-2, off goals from Greg McKegg and Mika Zibanejad (power play).
“I think we have to try to get some crazy goals,” the Stars’ Roope Hintz said when asked about trying to stop a team from scoring four straight goals against them. “Get the pucks to the net, get guys going there, not trying to get the perfect play.”
Adam Fox gave the Rangers a 3-2 lead, and Panarin hit for his goal 38 seconds later for a 4-2.
“They’re a real good forechecking team, that’s what they do real well,” New York coach Gerard Gallant said. “I thought we were tighter. We were more compact in the [defensive] zone. We talked about, ‘Stop giving up these 20 chances a game.’ You can’t win and be successful doing that. I thought we got to more pucks, we were first on pucks more. There was support when we got the pucks, so we didn’t spend as much time in our zone as we did the last two games.”
Jason Robertson scored in the middle frame to get the Stars within 4-3.
“We played well in the first 10, then they played well in the [next] 10 in the first [period],” Stars coach Rick Bowness said. “We played really well in the second. The fifth goal really hurt.”
Patrik Nemeth scored off a wraparound to make it 5-3 to the Rangers.
Joe Pavelski scored to cut it back to 5-4, But Barclay Goodrow scored on a break off a nifty effort from Filip Chytil for a 6-4 lead for New York.
Ryan Strome hit an empty netter for the 7-4 final.
The Stars dropped to 32-22-3.
Jake Oettinger made 22 saves in the Dallas loss.
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