Oettinger makes 24 saves, Stars hang on to defeat Blue Jackets

DALLAS -- Jake Oettinger made 24 saves, and the Dallas Stars defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-1 at American Airlines Center on Saturday.

“The difference in the game was (Oettinger),” Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said. “We’re not playing our best hockey right now, and you need something to bail you out. And a little bit the power play, but mostly (Oettinger).”

Mikko Rantanen scored his team-leading seventh goal of the season, Arttu Hyry had a goal and an assist, and Thomas Harley also scored for Dallas (8-5-1), which had lost its previous two games but finished a six-game homestand 4-2-0. Miro Heiskanen had two assists.

“I thought that we played a good first period,” Gulutzan said. “I thought we played pretty direct. Our power play scored us a goal, which kind of gave us some energy there.”

Damon Severson scored for the Blue Jackets (5-7-0), who have lost two in a row. Jet Greaves made 14 saves.

“That’s how things are going right now,” Blue Jackets coach Rick Bowness said. “Listen, we keep up that effort that we’re showing right now, good things are gonna happen for this hockey club. We’ll go on a run … our best hockey’s ahead of us. Right now, that game tonight is how we wanna play.” 

Rantanen gave the Stars a 1-0 lead at 2:16 of the first period on the power play. Wyatt Johnston received the puck from Jason Robertson at the left side of the net, and Johnston fed a backhand pass through the crease to Rantanen for a tap-in at the far post.

Rantanen has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in his past eight games.

“Like we’ve seen, it’s hard to win in this league,” Stars defenseman Esa Lindell said. “Every team tries to push … but we stood strong, and then Jake made some saves. Got those big points again.” 

Harley put the Stars ahead 2-0 in the final second of the first period. Hyry missed a shot from the right side, and the puck rimmed up the left wall to Harley, who whipped a quick shot from the boards that got past Greaves at the near post.

“It’s a good thing I didn’t shoot it point-three seconds later, I guess,” said Harley. “I just know time’s ticking down. There’s no play but fire it at the net, and it went in, thank goodness.”

Valeri Nichushkin appeared to have scored for the Blue Jackets on a shot from the slot at 2:23 of the third period, but after a coach’s challenge by Dallas, video review determined the Blue Jackets were offside on the zone entry at 2:11.

“You’re trying to look for a stick touch,” Gulutzan said. “If there’s no stick touch there, they’re going to call that he relinquishes possession, lets the guy tag (up). But there was a little touch there.”

Severson made it 2-1 at 6:21 of the third period. Zach Werenski brought the puck low along the boards after a face-off win fed it in front to Severson, who outmuscled Rantanen to put the puck into the open side of the net.

“It’s frustrating not getting a result, for sure,” Severson said. “We felt that we had really good second and third periods and played our game, had some chances. Just weren’t able to get that tying goal, unfortunately. That’s a tough one when you lose like that, when we play the right way and do all the right things, and then not unfortunately capitalize to get that extra one.”

Hyry scored an empty-net goal at 19:59 of the third period to seal the victory, the Stars’ second goal of the game in the final second of a period.

“They’re a good team,” Harley said of Columbus. “They defend well. They work hard. They forecheck hard. They don’t really give up much. Kind of an ugly game tonight but came out on top.” 

NOTES: Defenseman Ivan Provorovplayed 19:31 with one shot on goal in his season debut for Columbus after missing 11 games with a lower body injury. … Forward David Perron played 11:31 in his debut for the Stars after signing with Dallas on October 16… With his 356th career point on his first assist, Heiskanen passed Risto Siltanen for the fourth-most points by a Finnish defenseman. Teppo Numminen (637) tops the all-time list.