It Dallas, all early indications pointed to the Pittsburgh Penguins extending their winning streak to 11 games on Saturday afternoon.
Brian Dumoulin and Kasperi Kapanen scored for the Pens in the opening frame for a 2-0 lead over the Stars.
“I think they’re a tough team to beat,” Kapanen said. “I think throughout the game, we were pretty good in front of our net. We know they’ve got big guys, skilled guys that tip pucks and have a presence at the net. Obviously, those last two goals, they were just better in front of the net and cost us the game.”
Dallas replied with three goals over the rest of the game and ended the Pens win streak in a 3-2 decision.
“We knew they’ve been good at home,” Dumoulin said. “They’re a hard, hard team, so we knew we had a big challenge with these guys. It’s tough to let this one slip, especially with our lead.”
Jake Oettinger made 27 saves in the Dallas win.
Roope Hintz hit for the game-winner with under four minutes left in the third period.
“There was a loose puck and then we got a 2-on-1,” Hintz said. “I tried to sell it to [Jason Robertson] and then after that, he got it from the air and he just whacked it. Miro (Heiskanen) tried to get it over the goalie, and then I was there behind him, and then I just got it into the open net.”
Dallas improved to 17-12-2.
“What we talked about after the first period, it just seemed to me we were giving them a little too much respect,” Dallas head coach Rick Bowness said. “That’s a great hockey club over there. … They play very hard. I think after the first we were just giving them a little too much respect, and then I think in the second and the third we started to play Dallas Stars hockey against them and being more aggressive.”
Denis Gurianov and Joe Pavelski rallied the Stars back to a 2-2 tie.
“We definitely got better as the night went on,” Pavelski said. “There was a lot of energy in the building all night. All the way from warmups, you could feel it growing as our game got better.”
The Penguins dropped to 20-9-5.
“It’s a game of momentum,” Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan said. “Sometimes they have it, sometimes we had it. I thought we had it a fair amount in the first half of the game. I thought the third period, in particular, we got on our heels a little bit.”
Tristan Jarry made 29 saves in the Pittsburgh loss.
“I think it was right there for us,” Pittsburgh’s Marcus Pettersson said. “Our start was good. Like I said, just timely goals from them late in the second like that…it was right there. It’s really tough right now. We’ve been playing some good hockey, so we have to look at what we can do better and move on.”
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