Rantanen, Stars rally past Oilers, extend point streak to 7

DALLAS -- Mikko Rantanen had two goals and an assist, and the Dallas Stars rallied for a 4-3 shootout win against the Edmonton Oilers at American Airlines Center on Tuesday.

“Felt good. Playing with [Wyatt Johnston] and [Jason Robertson], two really good hockey players, so easy to play with, and they were making plays around me,” Rantanen said. “Good battle win for the team. We battled hard. Even in the first, I thought we had a good start and all of a sudden it’s 2-0. That’s what Edmonton does. They’re a really good team.”

Wyatt Johnston had three assists and scored the deciding goal in the shootout, and Miro Heiskanen also had a goal for the Stars (7-3-3), who extended their point streak to seven games (4-0-3). Casey DeSmith made 23 saves.

“[Rantanen] is so big for us. He's a big man, but he's so big for us in more ways than on the ice,” Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said. “He's tremendous on the ice, a tremendous competitor. He's a great leader. He's just so good for our locker room. Again, top players against top players you can see everything rises and it's exciting to watch.”

Connor McDavid had a goal and an assist, and Leon Draisaitl and Vasily Podkolzin scored for the Oilers (6-5-4), who were coming off a 3-2 loss at the St. Louis Blues on Monday and are 2-2-3 in their past seven. Skinner made 24 saves, and Jack Roslovic had two assists.

“Decision-making and reading the situation were the issues tonight,” Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said. “We needed to push them back. They started to get comfortable with the puck and we let them take the win. There’s been too many of these games that happen to us, so we need to figure out how to close a game better.”

The Oilers took a 1-0 lead at 3:40 of the first period. Roslovic sent a one-handed pass across the crease to Podkolzin, who beat DeSmith with a quick shot from in tight.

Draisaitl made it 2-0 at 7:07 when he scored with a sharp-angled shot from along the goal line to the right of the net on the power play.

Rantanen cut the lead to 2-1 at 9:10 of the second period, batting in a rebound after Johnston hit the post on the power play. The goal was Rantanen's 300th in the NHL.

“Bounces and breaks aside, we got to work to get more chances and not let them have it. We were in a good spot in the game, but we let them build off chances and win,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “We know we’re capable of closing games out, we just need to show it.”

McDavid pushed it to 3-1 at 7:51 of the third period with a wrist shot from the left face-off circle.

“In the third period we gave up three chances. We lost focus and responsibility and gave them positions to make good plays. It’s one thing if the opposition beats your coverage and makes a good play, but we were just making mistakes and giving away opportunities,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “I do see that we are making progress game by game. We got to make big plays in critical times and not make those mistakes. There’s lots of areas of the game we need to work on, but we have a break before our next game (against the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday). We need to step up our game.”

Rantanen cut the deficit to 3-2 at 8:37, beating Skinner blocker side with a shot from in front for his second goal of the game.

“Everyone knows what he’s capable of. We’ve played against him a lot. I’m glad he’s on our side [now],” Heiskanen said. “He’s a quick player, can create a lot and score big goals. It’s great to have him here.”

Heiskanen tied it 3-3 at 12:20. Johnston's initial shot hit off the shin of Rantanen and deflected wide, but the rebound caromed off the end boards directly to Heiskanen, who shot it into the open net.

“Entertaining game. Not exactly how we would have scripted it, but you’ve got to find ways to win,” Johnston said. “I think we’ve always been a team that has a lot of patience and that no quit attitude. We believe we can come back in any game and just got to keep chipping away. Been in that situation too many times this year, but it’s good to have that confidence when we are in that situation.”

NOTES: Rantanen became the fourth Finnish player to score at least 300 career goals, joining Teemu Selanne (684), Jari Kurri (601) and Olli Jokinen (321).