‘Snapping It Around Pretty Quick’: Dallas Stars Beat San Jose Sharks 4-3 As Thomas Harley Scores Winner, Jamie Benn Reaches 999 Points

DALLAS — With Miro Heiskanen out for a second straight game, Thomas Harley took the point on the Dallas Stars’ top power-play unit Saturday night and had a hand in all three of their power-play goals. His one-timer at 14:30 of the second period held up as the winner in a 4-3 victory over the San Jose Sharks at American Airlines Center.

Roope Hintz had a goal and an assist, while Jamie Benn and Jason Robertson also scored for Dallas. Mikko Rantanen and Wyatt Johnston each added 2 assists, and Jake Oettinger made 20 saves on 23 shots.

The win moved the Stars to 10-5-2 to open a four-game homestand. Dallas is 3-0-1 over its last four games and 10-0-1 against San Jose since March 2024. The Sharks fell to 7-11-1 and have lost five in a row, all in regulation, after dropping both ends of a road back-to-back that began with a 4-1 loss at the Minnesota Wild on Friday.

Ahead of Saturday’s game, Harley said he enjoys the load of 26 minutes a night with a spot on the first power-play unit. He finished with 6:23 on the power play and 3:34 on the penalty kill against San Jose.

“We’re snapping it around pretty quick. I’m trying to distribute, but also be a shot threat from the point. Try and keep those guys honest,” Harley said. “Most of my job is passing left or passing right, and the other guys make it look good.”

Roope Hintz, Jamie Benn, And Jason Robertson Build A 3-1 Lead

San Jose scored first. Macklin Celebrini carried the puck from the blue line down to the low circle and slid a pass across to Michael Misa, who put it under Oettinger’s left pad at 7:22 of the first period. It was the Sharks’ first 1-0 lead in nine games.

Dallas answered 1:54 later on a 4-on-3 power play. Johnston tipped a Harley shot from the point, and Hintz found the rebound at the left post to tie it at 9:16. Hintz came into the night on a nine-game point streak against San Jose, with 4 goals and 8 assists in that span. Johnston credited Harley for walking the blue line and shooting for tips.

“Just goals in a bunch of different ways on the power play,” Johnston said. “Even the ones we didn’t score on, I think we had a lot of good looks. Look to build from that.”

Benn put Dallas ahead at 15:17. Hintz recovered a puck below the goal line and fed it into the slot, and Benn shot it high into the far corner. The goal was the 999th point of Benn’s career. He needs one more to become the second player in franchise history to reach 1,000, after Mike Modano (1,359).

Benn, in his 18th season, has 3 goals and 4 assists through 17 games. Stars coach Glen Gulutzan pointed to the captain carrying pucks down the ice.

“I think Jamie’s playing great hockey,” Gulutzan said. “Offensively, he’s making plays and taking pucks down the ice. He’s playing some good hockey for us. That’s why he’s with [Rantanen] and [Johnston], and I thought that line’s been good and effective.”

Robertson made it 3-1 with another power-play goal at 16:51. Rantanen sent a pass across from the opposite circle, and Robertson snapped it over the glove of Alex Nedeljkovic. The goal was Robertson’s ninth, tying him with Rantanen for the team lead.

Thomas Harley’s Winner Holds Up Through A San Jose 5-On-3

Ivar Stenberg cut the lead to 3-2 at 2:47 of the second, finishing a 2-on-1 with Celebrini from the bottom of the left circle. Stenberg, the second overall pick in the 2026 draft, has 5 goals as a rookie.

Harley answered at 14:30. Johnston fed the puck back to the point, and Harley one-timed it under Nedeljkovic’s right pad for his second goal of the season. It was his first three-point game of the year.

“Me and Mikko [Rantanen] talked,” Harley said. “He’s talkative. …He wants to win, and he’s coming from the right place. He’s just competitive.”

Through 17 games, Harley has 2 goals and 9 assists. Rantanen’s advice concerned where Harley sets up at the point.

“[Rantanen] told me I should be a little bit lower in the zone,” Harley explained. “Still in the middle, but their forwards play so low that I can come in and creep in and be a shot threat. …I just came over the top and tried to hit it hard.”

Harley entered Saturday averaging 1:00 of power-play time a night, compared with 3:37 for Heiskanen, who quarterbacked the most productive power play in the league last season. When Heiskanen missed 32 games two seasons ago, Harley finished with 50 points. He averaged 2:23 a night on the power play that season.

“He adds a little bit of a dimension,” Gulutzan said of Harley. “He likes to shoot the puck. You can see that and he takes on a little bit more of a shooter than a distributor. Miro would be the opposite, so sometimes different pieces coming in can bring different skill sets to a power play.”

Will Smith pulled San Jose within 4-3 on a 5-on-3 at 17:02 of the second. Mason Marchment found him at the back door with a cross-crease pass, and Smith shot into the open net. Dallas’ penalty kill went 5-for-6, and the two goals it has allowed at home this season, on 34 chances, both came on 5-on-3s.

The Sharks also had a power play in the third period that Dallas killed. Esa Lindell logged 7:24 short-handed, Tyler Myers 6:03, Sam Steel 4:33, and Radek Faksa 4:02.

“They did great, especially that kill at the end,” Gulutzan said. “Whenever you get those kills, it’s not always how many, it’s when you get a big kill. We got a big kill at the right time.”

Dallas went 3-for-5 on the power play and moved to eighth in the NHL at 27.5%. The penalty kill sits first at 89.7%. Saturday was the most special-teams time the Stars have played in a game this season.

“You can’t win in the league without them,” Gulutzan explained of special teams. “Five-on-five, it seems like the league has gotten so tight. You look at all the games, the margins are just small. The special teams certainly helped us win tonight.”

The Stars also won 39 of 56 faceoffs and outshot San Jose 30-23. They are 9-0-0 this season when scoring at least three goals and 1-5-2 when they do not.

Celebrini assisted on all three San Jose goals for his fourth three-point game of the season and played a career-high 28:05. Rookie defenseman Eric Pohlkamp picked up an assist for his first NHL point in his third game. San Jose has allowed seven power-play goals over its last three games. Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky saw his team make strides over the back-to-back despite the results.

“I thought we did some good things again, some positives, but unfortunately come up on the losing end again,” Warsofsky said. “We’re making strides these last two games. Again, we gotta stick to the process and just continue to work and get better, and the results will come.”

Smith had a goal and an assist in the second game of the back-to-back. He has 7 goals this season, tied with Celebrini for the team lead.

“It’s really tough,” Smith said. “Coming off the back to back, playing against a really good team, it definitely hurts. Especially when we have a good effort like that.”

Nedeljkovic made 26 saves and is 3-3-1 with a 3.23 goals-against average in seven starts. He saw a different work rate the last two nights than in the games before.

“I think the attention to detail, the will to work every single shift, I think it’s been there a lot these last two days,” Nedeljkovic said. “I don’t think we can say that, honestly, about the couple of games before that. So it’s a different feeling of frustration.”

Heiskanen, listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury, missed his second straight game. Steel returned after missing Thursday’s game for personal reasons. Dallas does not play again until Thursday, and Gulutzan said a few days of rest and practice could help a group working through bumps and bruises.

“To be honest with you, this little break comes at a good time,” Gulutzan said.

Dallas hosts the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday at 7 p.m. CT on military and veterans appreciation night, then hosts the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday and the Florida Panthers on Sunday. San Jose hosts the New York Islanders on Monday.