Robertson extends goal streak to 5, Stars defeat Canucks

VANCOUVER -- Jason Robertson scored to extend his goal streak to five games and his point streak to six games, and the Dallas Stars defeated the Vancouver Canucks 4-2 at Rogers Arena on Thursday.

The forward has nine goals in his past five games, and 13 points (nine goals, four assists) during his point streak.

“He's one of those guys when he's feeling himself, you want to get him out there as much as possible and let him kind of do his thing,” forward Colin Blackwell said of Robertson. “He's been super confident, great with the puck, and to see him continue that hot streak and just continue to do his thing, get to the right areas and score, he's got a gift that a lot of people don't have.”

Jake Oettinger made 34 saves for the Stars (13-5-3), who have won six of their past seven games and are 5-0-2 in their past seven road games.

“A gutsy road win and a lot of guys played really, really well,” Oettinger said.

Kevin Lankinen made 20 saves for the Canucks (9-11-2), who are 1-3-2 in their past six games.

The Canucks lost despite outshooting the Stars 36-24, including a 15-6 advantage in the second period.

“It was probably our best game of the year,” coach Adam Foote said. “We frustrated them. The second period, we pretty much dominated. You could see it in their game. It was good.”

The Canucks failed to capitalize on an early power play in the third period that included Oettinger robbing Elias Pettersson from the top of the crease.

“Definitely had some looks to score. I had some good looks to score, take the lead,” said Pettersson. “It's a good team over there. We definitely did enough to win but it wasn't enough today.”

Instead, Blackwell got behind Quinn Hughes to take a pass from Radek Faksa in the neutral zone and snap a wrist shot over the glove of Lankinen for the 3-2 lead at 10:47 of the third period.

Mikko Rantanen scored on a pretty solo rush with 1:31 left for the 4-2 final. Rantanen spun around a backchecking Brock Boeser off the rush before sending a perfect backhand over Lankinen’s left shoulder from the right face-off dot.

“We kind of regrouped between the second and third and I thought we came out with some juice, and I thought the third period was ours,” coach Glen Gulutzan said.

Mavrik Bourque put the Stars ahead 1-0 just 55 seconds into the first period. Lankinen stopped Bourque on a 2-on-1 but slid past his left post and the puck was poked loose behind the net to Justin Hryckowian. He passed out to Bourque, who had circled behind the net, on the other side for an easy goal into the empty net before Lankinen could get back in his net.

“If you stick around the net, good things happen,” Bourque said.

Linus Karlsson tied it 1-1 at 3:06, skating onto a neutral zone turnover and down the left side before firing a wrist shot through Oettinger from inside the left face-off dot.

Robertson restored the Dallas lead with a spin-and-shoot off the cycle from the right face-off dot over the left shoulder of Lankinen to make it 2-1 at 7:44.

“He's also working extremely hard out there to make the right plays and put himself in good situations, so we're glad he's on our side,” Blackwell said.

Pettersson tied it 2-2 on the power play at 14:25 by knocking in a rebound during a scramble in tight that started with him driving the puck to the net from the goal line.

It was the first power play goal against the Stars in six games, ending a run of 11 straight kills, but Dallas successful killed off a 5-on-3 for 1:20 early in the second period to keep it tied, with Oettinger making his best save on a cross-crease chance for Jake DeBrusk in tight.

“Games like this, tight, special teams could win us the game,” Pettersson said. “Now we got one on the power play, but when we get a long 5-on-3, we need to get a goal.”

Oettinger also made a great backdoor left pad save against Boeser off the rush with 1:52 left in the second period and shot out his right pad to rob Pettersson alone from the top of the crease on another power play chance 2:50 into the third.

“PK was awesome. That 5-on-3 was a turning point in the game,” Oettinger said.

Oettinger saved the final 25 shots he saw after the first period, including a pokecheck on Conor Garland cutting in alone with 4:12 left in the second period, then dropping his stick to knock a rebound shot from Pettersson out of the air with his blocker seconds later.

“I didn't think I had my best in the first period, and wasn't happy with the goals they scored, and just tried to bear down,” he said. “It was 2-2, I felt like we should have been up 2-0 after the first so I was like 'time to buckle in and make some saves' and I did that.”

NOTES: Rantanen has seven points (two goals, five assists) during a five-game point streak. … Pettersson has nine points (four goals, five assists) during a five-game point streak.