‘Difference In The Game’: Dallas Stars Beat Columbus Blue Jackets 3-1 Behind Jake Oettinger’s 24 Saves

DALLAS — Thomas Harley beat the first-period horn by 0.2 seconds, and Jake Oettinger stopped 24 of 25 shots on Saturday night as the Dallas Stars held off the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-1 at American Airlines Center. Mikko Rantanen scored on the power play for his team-leading seventh goal of the season.

Arttu Hyry finished with a goal and an assist, and Miro Heiskanen had two assists. Dallas went 1-for-2 on the power play and killed the only Columbus power play.

The win snapped a two-game losing streak for Dallas, which never held a lead in either of its losses to the New Jersey Devils and Montreal Canadiens earlier in the week. The Stars closed their season-long six-game homestand at 4-2-0 and improved to 8-5-1. Columbus fell to 5-7-0 and has dropped two straight.

Oettinger had allowed seven goals over his previous two outings. He entered Saturday fifth in the NHL with a 1.69 goals-against average, and he left it at 7-3-1.

“I thought we played a good first period,” Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said. “We played pretty direct, our power play scored us a goal, which gave us some energy. But obviously, the difference in the game was Jake.”

“I thought we got outplayed for 40. We were in our back half too much,” Gulutzan continued. “We’re not playing our best hockey right now and you need something to bail you out. I thought it was a little bit of our power play, but mostly Jake.”

Columbus outshot Dallas 25-17 and finished with 33 hits to the Stars’ 10. The Blue Jackets also won 30 of the 50 faceoffs. Dallas blocked 14 shots.

“I thought we defended too much,” Gulutzan explained. “We defended hard and blocked shots, but we shouldn’t have been in that position. I thought we could have pushed a little bit more. I liked the way we defended. But our best defender was Jake.”

Mikko Rantanen, Thomas Harley Score In The First Period

Dallas went ahead on its first power play. Jet Greaves was called for delay of game at 1:43 of the first period after he sent the puck over the glass, and the Stars scored 33 seconds later.

Jason Robertson moved the puck from the top of the left circle to Wyatt Johnston low on the left side. Johnston turned and slid a backhand pass through the crease, and Rantanen tapped it in at the far post at 2:16.

Rantanen has four goals and seven assists over his past eight games. His 17 points lead the Stars.

Harley doubled the lead in the last second of the period. Hyry missed a shot from the right side, the puck rimmed around to Harley on the left wall, and Harley whipped it past Greaves at the near post with 0.2 seconds on the clock.

The goal was Harley’s first of the season and his first since March 14. He had five assists through the first 13 games.

“It’s a good thing I didn’t shoot it point-three seconds later, I guess,” Harley said. “I just know time’s ticking down. There’s no play but fire it at the net, and it went in, thank goodness.”

Heiskanen picked up the first assist on Harley’s goal. It was the 356th point of his career, which moved him past Risto Siltanen for the fourth-most by a Finnish defenseman in NHL history. Teppo Numminen holds the mark with 637.

Offside Challenge Wipes Out Valeri Nichushkin’s Goal Before Columbus Pulls Within One

Columbus thought it had cut the lead in half at 2:23 of the third period, when Valeri Nichushkin scored from the slot. Dallas called a timeout and then challenged for offside. Video review showed the Blue Jackets were offside on the zone entry at 2:11, and the goal came off the board. Dallas used the timeout to buy its video staff more time with the replay.

“It was taking a little long to actually see it,” Gulutzan said. “I wanted more time. You’re trying to look for a stick deflection. If there’s no stick touch there, then they’re going to call that. You want to make sure, and you hope at that point you don’t need your timeout.”

Nichushkin was the 10th overall pick by Dallas in the 2013 NHL Draft. He has one goal and five assists in 12 games this season.

The Blue Jackets did get on the board at 6:21. Zach Werenski carried the puck low along the boards after a faceoff win and fed it in front, where Damon Severson beat Rantanen to the far post and put it into the open side of the net. Kent Johnson also had an assist. The goal was Severson’s third of the season.

“It’s frustrating not getting a result, for sure,” Severson said. “We felt that we had really good second and third periods and played our game, had some chances. Just weren’t able to get that tying goal, unfortunately.”

“That’s a tough one when you lose like that,” Severson continued. “When we play the right way and do all the right things, and then not unfortunately capitalize to get that extra one.”

Blue Jackets coach Rick Bowness coached the Stars before Pete DeBoer. Two of the four Dallas wins on the homestand came against those two coaches. DeBoer now coaches the New York Islanders.

“That’s how things are going right now,” Bowness said. “Listen, we keep up that effort that we’re showing right now, good things are gonna happen for this hockey club. We’ll go on a run … our best hockey’s ahead of us. Right now, that game tonight is how we wanna play.”

Columbus got its only power play in the second period, when Nils Lundkvist went off for hooking. The Stars have not allowed a power-play goal since Oct. 13, when Martin Nečas scored on a 5-on-3 for Colorado.

Tyler Seguin missed the empty net from center ice with under two minutes to play. With 0.3 seconds left, Jamie Benn found Hyry in the neutral zone, and Hyry scored into the empty net. It was the Stars’ first empty-net goal of the season.

Esa Lindell returned after missing five games with a lower-body injury. David Perron played 11:31 in his Stars debut after signing a one-year, $850,000 contract Oct. 16.

“Like we’ve seen, it’s hard to win in this league,” Lindell said. “Every team tries to push … but we stood strong, and then Jake made some saves. Got those big points again.”

For Columbus, defenseman Ivan Provorov played 19:31 in his season debut after missing 11 games with a lower-body injury. Columbus dressed 11 forwards and seven defensemen.

The Stars open a two-game road trip Tuesday against the Washington Capitals, with puck drop set for 6 p.m. CT. Dallas plays at Columbus on Thursday at 6 p.m. CT. The Blue Jackets host Colorado on Tuesday.