The Dallas Stars look to stay hot when they visit the Nashville Predators on Thursday.
The Stars are 9-2-1 in their past 12 games after a 4-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday and hold a two-point lead over the Colorado Avalanche for first place in the Central Division.
Jason Robertson and Matt Duchene each had a goal and an assist, and Joe Pavelski had two assists for the Stars against Carolina. Jake Oettinger made 32 saves to earn his sixth straight win. He lowered his goals against average to 2.90 to go along with a .906 save percentage.
“Playing well and guys are playing well for me, doing little things you need to do to win, like block shots and play well in our own end,” Oettinger said.
“That’s what you need to win, especially this time in the season. We’re going to score a ton of goals, and if we can keep the puck out of our own net, we’re going to be really good.”
Jason Robertson broke a 2-2 tie at 4:35 of the third period and Duchene added an empty-netter.
Robertson has a team-high 54 points, including 18 goals.
“We just stuck to what our game plan was coming into it,” Robertson said. “Everybody bought in and we were just trying to slow them down as much as we could. I thought we did a pretty good job of breaking the puck out. Every line really contributed tonight.”
The struggling Predators have lost six of eight, including two of three on a four-game homestand as they work to remain in wild-card contention.
Tuesday night they dropped a pair of one-goal leads, including a 2-1 second-period edge, and lost to the visiting New Jersey Devils 4-2.
Roman Josi and Cody Glass each had two assists, and Juuse Saros made 43 saves for the Predators.
“We know how important these games are, and that’s why it’s really frustrating,” said Josi, who extended his point streak to four games (one goal, six assists).
“It can’t happen that late in the year. You can lose games, you can get outplayed sometimes, but you can’t get outworked, you can’t get outbattled. We’ve got to find a way to win those battles. In our position at this time of the year, we need to be a lot better.”
Tommy Novak and Ryan O’Reilly scored for Nashville. O’Reilly’s 12th power-play goal of the season was Nashville’s third on the man-advantage in their past two outings after a recent streak of 20 straight opportunities without converting.
Novak’s second-period goal was his 10th of the season and his second in as many games. He extended his point streak to four games (two goals, three assists).
With assists on O’Reilly and Novak’s goals, Glass recorded his first multipoint game of the season.
“I think (Glass) is feeling it a little bit and you’re kind of happy for him,” Nashville coach Andrew Brunette said. “He kind of got rewarded, and missed a great opportunity to tie the game that I’m sure he’d be a little upset with. But it’s a positive.
“I think him and Tommy are kind of getting out of their funk a little bit. I thought they had good chemistry together.”
–Field Level Media
