In Dallas, Jacob Robertson hit for a double, and the Stars edged out the Nashville Predators on Wednesday night, 4-3.
Jake Oettinger made 20 saves in the Dallas win.
The Stars improved to 24-18-2.
“We had talked yesterday, and even today, that this was going to be a playoff-type game and it was,” Dallas head coach Rick Bowness said. “It was a great hockey game out there. … We got good games from everybody tonight, that was a [heck] of a hockey game.”
Luke Glendening scored the game-winner in the early minutes of the third period, breaking a 3-3 tie.
“It was a physical game,” Glendening said. “That’s kind of what we’re expecting the second half [of the season]. I thought the guys were engaged, and I think that’s a good sign for our team. When we’re engaged like that, we give ourselves a chance every night.”
Yakov Trenin, Matt Duchene, and Eeli Tolvanen struck for goals for the Predators.
Roope Hintz added a single marker for Dallas in the win.
“He’s something else,” Dallas’ John Klingberg said about Robertson. “He’s so smart. I think on the first goal, I’m trying to shoot to score and he tips it. Great, that’s a goal. The second one is kind of funny. I told [Joe Pavelski] right before ‘they’re giving me the lane, get to the net.’ He was kind of tied up, and [Robertson] was wide open for a long time and I was just trying to drag it for as long as I could. He just finds that open spot, and that’s a world-class tip as well. He keeps surprising. I think he’s so smart in different ways. He’s a really good all-around hockey player.”
Trenin scored for Nashville with nine seconds left in the middle frame to tie the game, 3-3.
“We have an identity that we want to be able to play with, and we didn’t do that consistently enough tonight,” Nashville head coach John Hynes said. “We want to play a consistent game and a brand of hockey that gives us a chance to win every night, and we didn’t do that.”
The Predators fell to 28-15-4.
“I thought we played a volatile game,” Hynes said. “Undisciplined, and we beat ourselves tonight. When you look at that, we spent over 20 percent of the game on the penalty kill. We took six penalties. One 5-on-3, one 4-on-3. We gave up nine odd-man rushes. I think it was five 3-on-2s, two 2-on-1s, two breakaways. That’s not a recipe to success and that’s not the way we want to play. It’s not what our identity is.”
Juuse Saros made 23 saves in the Preds loss.
“We’ve got to do a better job of controlling our sticks,” Nashville’s Roman Josi said. “I think we get a lot of tripping. I had two tripping penalties, I just have got to control my stick better. I think that’s the main thing. In certain situations, we’ve got to be more disciplined and more mindful of it.”
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