Confidence is riding high in Dallas as the Stars take their franchise-tying eight-game winning streak on the road to face the Vancouver Canucks on Monday night.
Wyatt Johnston and Nathan Bastian scored in regulation, and Jason Robertson added the overtime winner as the Stars erased a 2-0 deficit to top the Nashville Predators 3-2 on Saturday.
Jake Oettinger, making his first start since winning gold with Team USA at the Olympics, made 25 saves as the Stars matched their franchise record for consecutive wins. Dallas has won nine of 10 overall.
With the win, the Stars recorded their sixth multigoal comeback.
“I feel like with the win streak, the confidence goes higher and higher, and lately the simple things have been better, and the physical play — it sounds quite simple, but it has been effective,” Stars defenseman Esa Lindell said. “I feel like we just stuck with it and just kept working.
“Especially in the second period, I thought it started to turn for us, and I felt like we just kept pushing, and then got rewarded in the third and got the win in OT.”
Missing Mikko Rantanen, Roope Hintz and Radek Faksa, the Stars, second in the Western Conference, continue to find ways to win games. Dallas has not lost since Jan. 22.
“When you are missing such key guys, and you are able to still win hockey games, I think it shows positive signs of a good hockey team,” said Bastian, who snapped a nine-game goalless drought. “Guys like us maybe can’t bring all the skill, but we can make up for it in other areas.
“Maybe a little more physicality, and with a little more ice time, you get a little more confidence, and then all of a sudden you can string together some good games.”
Monday is the third and final meeting between the Canucks and Stars. Vancouver topped Dallas 5-3 on Oct. 16, while the Stars doubled up the Canucks 4-2 on Nov. 20.
The Canucks, on the opposite end of the Western Conference standings, open a brief two-game homestand following a 5-1 loss in Seattle on Saturday.
Liam Ohgren scored the lone Canucks goal, and Kevin Lankinen made 20 saves for Vancouver, which has lost five in a row and has just two wins over their past 21 (2-15-4).
“We had a couple mistakes early that they capitalized on. We know we can’t do that, but we did,” Canucks coach Adam Foote said. “We were around and it was closer than the score.”
Forward Elias Pettersson, who paces the Canucks with 35 points in 51 games this season, was benched for the final 10 minutes of the third period on Saturday with Foote trying to send a message to the veteran.
“He’s got to be better and he knows that. He’s aware of that,” Foote said. “He’s got to play with more zip, like with more pace to his game, more engaged, and good things will happen when he gets his motor going, and he’s aware of it. So, I’m sure we’ll see it next game.”
–Field Level Media
