In Dallas, the Stars scored twice in the third period to break open a 2-2 tie with the visiting Carolina Hurricanes en route to a 4-2 win on Tuesday night. 
The Stars’ Jason Robertson snapped the 2-2 tie at 4:35 of the third period off a shot from the right circle, for a 3-2m lead.
Jake Oettinger made 32 saves in the win.
“We just stuck to what our game plan was coming into it. Everyone bought in and just trying to slow them down as much as we could,” Robertson said. “There are still some things we should clean up. Our breakouts were good, got a lot of blocked shots, [goaltender Jake Oettinger] was obviously incredible, didn’t take a lot of penalties. It was a pretty solid 5-on-5 game.”
The Stars improved to 33-14-6.
“Playing well and guys are playing well for me, doing little things you need to do to win, like block shots and play well in our own end,” Oettinger said. “We’ve done that for the most part. That’s what you need to win, especially this time in the season. We’re going to score a ton of goals, and if we can keep the puck out of our own net, we’re going to be really good.”
Matt Duchene hit for the second goal of the period when he potted an empty-net marker at 17:35 off a shot from the Dallas zone for the 4-2 final count on the scoreboard.
Dallas took a 1-0 lead on a strike by Roope Hintz midway through the opening stanza on a shot form the left circle.
“I thought it was just a good hockey game. Good goaltending at both ends, good chances both ways,” Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said. “You can see why they’ve been one of the elite teams in the League for the last probably five, six years. Put a lot of pressure on you all over the ice.”
Jordan Staal knotted the game, 1-1, when he struck 13 seconds into the middle frame.
“It was a good game, could have gone either way. We made a few mistakes, and they made us pay,” Staal said. “They did a good job of capitalizing on their opportunities. We had some opportunities, some good looks to tie it up, and just came up short. It wasn’t a terrible game, but it wasn’t our best. There were some mistakes out there, and we gave them a few. The first one was a tough one for me, too, but it was a good battle and a good game. But we have to find a way to get points.”
Carolina dropped to 30-17-5.
“We gave up breakaways. A couple of unfortunate bounces in the neutral zone led to them getting odd-man rushes, and they capitalized,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “We had some odd-man rushes in the first period and we passed it, passed it, passed it, instead of firing at the net. That put us behind the eight ball. Overall, I thought we had a really good game. We were doing a lot of really good things. [Oettinger] made some really great saves down there, including the one on [defenseman Brett Pesce] with a chance to tie it up. The bounces weren’t going our way tonight.”
Dallas reclaimed the lead when Mason Marchment one-timed a pass from Nils Lundkvist at 5:04 of the second period.
“I first had almost a breakaway, my first breakaway in like three years,” Lundkvist said. “I tried to hold onto it, but it didn’t work out. Great shot by [Marchment] and great pass by Duchene to me, so good goal. [Duchene] probably drags three guys on him and I can just walk down and try to make a play.”
The Hurricanes replied with a goal by Jesper Fast at 15:16 for a 2-2 tie headed to the third period.
“Overall, we placed a pretty decent game. It was a very tight game out there,” Fast said. “Small details went in their favor. We just got to reload and get ready for the next game.”
Pyotr Kochetkov made 19 saves in the loss.
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