Dallas edges Winnipeg in overtime

The Winnipeg Jets have shown they can hang with anyone through the first 10 games of the season, with Thursday marking their eighth one-goal game as they continue to find themselves in tight battles every night.

The Jets picked up a point but came up short in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center, Roope Hintz scored his second of the night with just 1:13 remaining in the extra frame. Gabriel Vilardi and Kyle Connor scored for Winnipeg, while Stuart Skinner turned in another outstanding performance, stopping 35 shots.

"We gave up two six-on-five goals and an overtime goal, so did a lot better things than the St. Louis game," said head coach Scott Arniel.

"There's still some things we got to work on, but at the end of the day, it was closer to how we wanted to play. It's a good team over there."

The Jets’ best scoring chances of the opening period came from their top line. With five and a half minutes remaining, Kyle Connor skated in and tried to beat Jake Oettinger with a backhand, but the Stars netminder turned him aside.

Two minutes later, Connor turned playmaker, finding Mark Scheifele in the slot, but Oettinger was up to the task again, kicking aside his shot to keep the game scoreless after 20 minutes.

Dallas opened the scoring in the second period during a delayed penalty. Mikko Rantanen, coming off a hat trick Tuesday against Boston, flipped the puck to Wyatt Johnston, who had time to settle it before firing a wrist shot off the near post and past Stuart Skinner.

The Jets didn’t get their first shot of the second period until seven minutes in, when Mario Ferraro was denied by Oettinger’s blocker from close range, before the Stars netminder shut down Scheifele on a two-on-one with Connor. Winnipeg had another great opportunity while shorthanded, but Oettinger denied Brayden Yager on a breakaway to keep the Jets off the board.

The Jets kept pushing and finally broke through at 10:50, when Gabriel Vilardi scored his first goal of the season to even things up. Dylan Samberg’s shot was stopped by Oettinger, but Vilardi was right there to collect the rebound and bury it.

“Yeah, it's good. Hockey's a weird game, right? You know, you feel like you deserve it sometimes, and it doesn't go,” said Vilardi.

“And then on a night like tonight, when not much is happening, you know, you get one like that.”

Less than two minutes later, Winnipeg took its first lead of the night. Neal Pionk intercepted a Stars clearing attempt and sent a perfect pass to Kyle Connor, who blasted home his ninth goal of the season at 12:38.

Skinner was the difference for Winnipeg, keeping the Jets afloat through a relentless opening seven minutes of the second period before delivering a save that preserved their lead heading into the dressing room. Miro Heiskanen’s shot deflected off Neal Pionk’s skate and trickled toward the goal line, but just as the puck looked destined to cross, Skinner desperately dove back and snagged it with his glove to keep the Jets in front.

The Jets held onto that lead until the two-minute mark, when Mikko Rantanen found Roope Hintz in front of the net. The Finnish centre one-timed the pass past Skinner to pull Dallas even late in the third.

In overtime, Winnipeg had their best chance to get the extra point off some nice work from Viggo Björck who outmuscled Jason Robertson for the puck in the Jets end of the ice and headed out on an odd-man rush dropping the puck to Pionk, but his shot was blocked.

Dallas went back the other way, as Heiskanen sent Hintz in alone on Skinner and beat the Jets goaltender through the five-hole for the winning goal and the extra point.

“I thought we battled. There was some huge blocked shots, especially when we came to the third period. I thought our third period was our best,” said Skinner.

“Overall, learning lessons. We're going to keep on growing, keep on making our own game stronger and move forward here, but it is a big point.”

Cole Perfetti played in his 300th career game while Mario Ferraro played in game 500 in his career, Perfetti became the 56th player in franchise history to play in 300 games for the Jets while his 166 career points rank 25th in franchise history through 300 games, behind Doug Smail (173 points).

The Jets will return to Winnipeg to face the Montreal Canadiens in the Tim Horton’s NHL Heritage Classic on Sunday.