Mavrik Bourque completed his first career hat trick with the go-ahead goal late in the third period Monday night as the visiting Dallas Stars defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-5.
Bourque, who also had an assist for a career-best four-point game, scored from the edge of the crease at 14:52 of the third as the Stars rallied from a three-goal first-period deficit.
Jason Robertson added a goal and an assist for the Stars (49-20-12, 110 points), who have already clinched the second seed in the Central Division for the playoffs. Wyatt Johnston and Arttu Hyry also scored. Matt Duchene contributed three assists, and Casey DeSmith made 22 saves.
William Nylander had a goal and two assists for the Maple Leafs (32-35-14, 78 points), who will miss the playoffs and were playing their final home game of the season. John Tavares, Jacob Quillan, Max Domi and Nicholas Robertson (Jason’s brother) also scored. Matthew Knies had two assists, and Artur Akhtyamov stopped 26 shots.
Toronto scored the only three goals of the opening period, and Dallas replied with the only three of the second. The Maple Leafs regained the lead at 1:40 of the third when Domi scored on a pass from Nylander.
Nicholas Robertson gave Toronto a two-goal lead with a shot from 11 feet at 4:19 of the third.
Johnston scored on a power play at 8:17 of the third. Lorentz was off for holding.
Hyry got the tying goal at 9:38 when Toronto defenseman Troy Stecher put the puck into his own net.
Tavares opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 2:14 after the Stars gave up the puck while trying to clear it from behind the net. Hyry was off for high-sticking.
Quillan scored his first career NHL goal at 14:34, knocking in the puck from the edge of the crease following Steven Lorentz’s wraparound effort.
Nylander scored 1:16 later, batting home a bouncing rebound after Jake McCabe’s point shot.
The Stars tied the game with three consecutive goals in the second period.
Bourque scored from the left circle at 0:52 after pouncing on Nylander’s turnover in the Toronto zone.
Bourque scored again at 5:31 on a big rebound from Jason Robertson’s backhand effort.
Jason Robertson tied the game at 9:29, converting Duchene’s pass with a 13-foot wrist shot.
–Field Level Media
