Robertson scores winner, Stars overcome Predators in OT

DALLAS -- Jason Robertson scored 1:47 into overtime and the Dallas Stars rallied to defeat the Nashville Predators 3-2 at American Airlines Center on Saturday.

“What I liked was we kind of just stayed with our game that we’ve been playing,” Dallas coach Glen Gulutzan said. “I give them credit, too -- that’s a good hockey team. They have maybe the fifth best record in the League after a certain date here. They’ve been on a long run. They’re trying to get into the playoffs. They look like a playoff team. It almost felt like a playoff game.”

Robertson finished Miro Heiskanen's cross-crease feed, snapping a shot past Predators goalie Juuse Saros from in tight at the right post.

“Wyatt [Johnston] gets behind the net trying to occupy space. He gets to the slot and it’s a great look. He just missed the net. Someone collided, I spin off that guy, and it was a nice pass from Miro,” Robertson said.

Robertson also had an assist, Johnston tallied a goal and an assist, and Jake Oettinger made 25 saves for Dallas (36-14-9), which matched its franchise record set in 2023-24 with eight straight wins and has won nine of its past 10 games.

“I feel like with the win streak, the confidence goes higher and higher, and lately the simple things have been better, and the physical play -- it sounds quite simple but it has been effective,” Dallas defenseman Esa Lindell said. “I feel like we just stuck with it and just kept working. Especially in the second period, I thought it started to turn for us, and I felt like we just kept pushing, and then got rewarded in the third and got the win in OT.”

Michael Bunting and Steven Stamkos each scored, Luke Evangelista had two assists, and Saros made 22 saves for Nashville (27-24-8), which is 4-3-4 in its past 11 games.

“It’s one that you’re disappointed in not getting two [points], but coming off the break getting three of four is certainly positive. We need as many points as we can,” Stamkos said. “We’ve talked about just trying to stay the course and get on a little streak of collecting points. We’ll take it, but felt like the game was there. It was there for the taking.”

Bunting finished Miles Wood's pass, snapping in a power-play goal from the left circle to make it 1-0 at 14:26 of the first period.

Stamkos pushed it 2-0 at 15:35. Evangelista generated the turnover inside the blue line and passed to Stamkos, who put it past Oettinger from the right face-off circle with a snap shot.

“First period, we were on the forecheck, we were skating, we were physical. It was a really entertaining first period. For us, I thought, that’s the style of play we wanted to continue,” Stamkos said. “[After] we just weren’t as quick on pucks. That’s a very good hockey team, they’ve got great players. They’re going to make plays and they’re going to push being down 2-0. It’s your mentality right? You get up two, you tend to sit back a little too much and then they’re pushing. We had the recipe there in the first and we have to try to sustain it.”

Johnston cut the lead to 2-1 at 16:18 of the second period with a power-play goal. Robertson fed it to Jamie Benn at the left post, whose cross-crease, backhand pass found Johnston at the right post for the snap shot.

“We got away from our game in the second [period] and gave them some momentum,” Stamkos said. “That’s a really good team, obviously. Get into overtime, I think we had some really good looks. Couple of 2-on-1s, couple of big saves, a post. They go down, kind of a broken play, and score. That’s the way overtime goes. Certainly a game where we could have had two [points] easily.”

Nathan Bastian tied it 2-2 at 5:31 of the third period when he pounced on the rebound of Thomas Harley's shot and put it past Saros with a wrist shot in the slot.

“When you are missing such key guys like [Roope Hintz and Mikko Rantanen] and you are able to still win hockey games, I think it shows positive signs of a good hockey team,” Bastian said. “Guys like us maybe can’t bring all the skill, but we can make up for it in other areas. Maybe a little more physicality, and with a little more ice time, you get a little more confidence, and then all of a sudden you can string together some good games.”

NOTES: Dallas recorded its sixth multigoal comeback win this season, the second-most in the League behind the Anaheim Ducks (nine). … Forward Matt Duchene had a seven-game point streak (seven goals, four assists) snapped. … Stamkos became the third active player to record 10 career 30-goal seasons, joining Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin (19) and Pittsburgh Penguins forward Sidney Crosby (13).