Miro Heiskanen scored the tying goal with less than two minutes remaining in regulation, then Mikko Rantanen had the lone score in the shootout as the surging Dallas Stars rallied for a 3-2 victory over the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday night.
Down 2-1 and with goaltender Jake Oettinger (27 saves) on the bench for an extra skater, the Stars tied it with 1:49 left in the third period. With the same Pittsburgh skaters on the ice for roughly two minutes and unable to clear its own zone, Heiskanen’s drive through traffic beat the Penguins’ Tristan Jarry (21 saves).
Dallas needed only Rantanen’s goal as Oettinger stopped all three of the Penguins’ attempts in the shootout to win its third straight and improve to 13-1-2 since Nov. 8.
Connor Dewar and Tommy Novak scored for Pittsburgh, which capped a 2-0-1 road stretch while playing without star Evgeni Malkin (upper-body injury). Fellow star Sidney Crosby, a career Penguin in his 21st season, earned an assist Sunday to move within six points of Mario Lemieux’s club-record 1,723 set from 1984-2006).
Pittsburgh opened the scoring with 1:42 left in the first period. On the push, Noel Acciari, back from missing 12 games with an upper-body injury, got the puck to Blake Lizotte, who found Dewar alone in the slot for a successful slapper past Oettinger.
Dallas equalized just 1:27 into the second period via some nifty end-to-end passing. Roope Hintz, streaking down the left wing, sent the puck into the slot for Jamie Benn to convert by a late-reacting Jarry.
However, Pittsburgh regained the lead a little more than four minutes later. Crosby, from close to the far board, sent the puck into the high slot for Kris Letang, who drilled a shot that was deflected in by Novak.
Despite the outcome, Jarry came through with several key saves. Notably on point-blank overtime chances from Dallas’ Jason Robertson and Rantanen in overtime.
Dallas veteran forward Matt Duchene returned to the ice Sunday after missing 24 games with an upper-body injury.
