Robertson scores two, Stars edge Predators

DALLAS -- Jason Robertson scored twice in the Dallas Stars' 4-3 win against the Nashville Predators at American Airlines Center on Wednesday.

John Klingberg had two assists and Jake Oettinger made 20 saves for the Stars (24-18-2).
"We had talked yesterday, and even today, that this was going to be a playoff-type game and it was," Dallas coach Rick Bowness said. "It was a great hockey game out there. ... We got good games from everybody tonight, that was a [heck] of a hockey game."
Yakov Trenin, Matt Duchene, and Eeli Tolvanen scored and Roman Josi had two assists for the Predators (28-15-4), who were 4-0-1 in their previous five games. Juuse Saros made 23 saves.
Each team was playing its first game since the All-Star break.
"We have an identity that we want to be able to play with, and we didn't do that consistently enough tonight," Nashville coach John Hynes said. "We want to play a consistent game and a brand of hockey that gives us a chance to win every night, and we didn't do that."
Luke Glendening broke a 3-3 tie at 3:24 of the third period when he finished off a 2-on-1 cross-ice pass from Michael Raffl.
"It was a physical game," Glendening said. "That's kind of what we're expecting the second half [of the season]. I thought the guys were engaged, and I think that's a good sign for our team. When we're engaged like that, we give ourselves a chance every night."

Robertson tipped a Klingberg shot from the high slot for a 4-on-3 power play goal at 8:58 of the first period to give Dallas a 1-0 lead.
"We've got to do a better job of controlling our sticks," Josi said. "I think we get a lot of tripping. I had two tripping penalties, I just have got to control my stick better. I think that's the main thing. In certain situations, we've got to be more disciplined and more mindful of it."
With Michael McCarron screening Oettinger, Tolvanen's shot from the blue line got through to tie it 1-1 at 14:41.
Klingberg and Robertson connected again on a tip-in power play goal for Robertson's second of the game to make it 2-1 at 16:18 of the second period.
"He's something else," Klingberg said about Robertson. "He's so smart. I think on the first goal, I'm trying to shoot to score and he tips it. Great, that's a goal. The second one is kind of funny. I told [Joe Pavelski] right before 'they're giving me the lane, get to the net.' He was kind of tied up, and [Robertson] was wide open for a long time and I was just trying to drag it for as long as I could. He just finds that open spot, and that's a world-class tip as well. He keeps surprising. I think he's so smart in different ways. He's a really good all-around hockey player."

19 seconds later, Duchene tied it 2-2 when he drove the net and put the puck between Oettinger's outstretched legs and the post.
Dallas took its third lead when Roope Hintz collected a bouncing puck from Luke Kunin inside the blue line then scored on a backhand shot on a breakaway to make it 3-2 at 17:59.
Yakov Trenin tied the game 3-3 with nine seconds remaining in the period on a scramble by the net.
"I thought we played a volatile game," Hynes said. "Undisciplined, and we beat ourselves tonight. When you look at that, we spent over 20 percent of the game on the penalty kill. We took six penalties. One 5-on-3, one 4-on-3. We gave up nine odd-man rushes. I think it was five 3-on-2s, two 2-on-1s, two breakaways. That's not a recipe to success and that's not the way we want to play. It's not what our identity is."
NOTES: Stars forward Radek Faksa left in the third period with an undisclosed injury. Bowness said he didn't have an update. ... Predators forward Filip Forsberg had an assist but his four-game goal streak ended.