Robertson passes 100 points, Stars top Predators to clinch playoff berth

DALLAS -- Jason Robertson had four points to surpass 100 on the season, and the Dallas Stars clinched a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 5-1 win against the Nashville Predators at American Airlines Center on Monday.

Robertson, who finished with a goal and three assists, has 43 goals and 58 assists in 77 games this season. He is the first player in Stars/Minnesota North Stars history to get 100 points in a season since Dino Ciccarelli had 103 in 1986-87.
"We want that first seed, but you have to clinch first," Robertson said. "You've got to get that X on your name, then you can move forward. We kind of have the opportunity to really try to move up the standings in these next couple of games. Playoff hockey is coming back to Dallas, so that's big, and [hitting 100 points is] a special milestone."

Joe Pavelski had a goal and an assist, and Miro Heiskanen had two assists for the Stars (42-21-14), who moved into a tie with the Minnesota Wild for first place in the Central Division. Minnesota lost to the Vegas Golden Knights 4-3 in a shootout on Monday.
Scott Wedgewood made 26 saves in his first game since Feb. 18 because of a lower-body injury.
"We got off to a great start, so everyone kind of assumed we were going to be a playoff team," Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said. "If you rewind to the beginning of the season, a lot of people were picking us as a bubble team. The guys put in a lot of work, and it's an accomplishment in this league to punch your ticket for one of those 16 playoff spots. It was a lot of work. I'm glad we're in, and that gives you a chance now."
Cal Foote scored, and Juuse Saros made 21 saves for the Predators (38-30-8), who remained five points behind the Winnipeg Jets for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Western Conference.
"I thought we had a good effort," Nashville coach John Hynes said. "I thought we had some opportunities early in the game to score and we didn't. Obviously, I thought the third goal was a little bit of a killer for us. Overall, I didn't think it was an effort thing. I just thought special teams played a big part of it, and we didn't score on our opportunities earlier in the game that I thought would have kept it a little bit tighter and maybe gave us a little bit more momentum."
Roope Hintz gave Dallas a 1-0 lead at 4:21 of the first period, scoring with a one-timer from the right hash marks off a pass from Robertson from below the goal line.

Colin Miller made it 2-0 at 12:31 of the second period with a one-timer through traffic.
"They're a fast team, they're great off the rush," Foote said. "They have a lot of talented guys that are really speedy. I don't hate our start, I think our first was pretty good even though we were down 1-0. ... But I thought we had a decent start, and throughout the game they just kept coming at us. We've got to find a way to bog down the neutral zone and get out of our zone quicker and spend more time in the [offensive] zone."
Pavelski extended the lead to 3-0 at 16:07 of the second when he redirected in a pass from Heiskanen on a power play.
Robertson pushed it to 4-0 at 8:29 in the third period, beating Saros blocker side from the right circle for another power-play goal.
"We're normally in a lot of tight games, and I think when you're taking 4-5 penalties a game, it's too many," Hynes said. "It's much too taxing on the penalty killers. We're down some penalty killers that are out of our lineup, so we have other guys coming in. It's something we've got to clean up for sure going into tomorrow (against the Vegas Golden Knights)."
Seguin made it 5-0 at 14:23, taking a return pass from Robertson and lifting in a shot short side from the bottom of the left circle.

Foote scored from the right circle at 15:10 for the 5-1 final.
"It's big for the guys to get out to the lead," Wedgewood said. "[Heck] of a third period by us. I think they had maybe one shot until they scored, and there were a couple after that with the penalty. Got a little bored back there. It's a testament to how good this team is. No one's looking for points or anything like that, regardless of guys getting them. It was no odd-man rushes, no breakdowns, it was a smart hockey game."
NOTES: Dallas has four players with at least 70 points (Hintz, Robertson, Pavelski, and Jamie Benn) for the first time since 1992-93 (Mike Modano, Russ Courtnall, Dave Gagner, and Ulf Dahlen). ... Foote scored his first goal with the Predators since being acquired from the Tampa Bay Lightning on Feb. 26. ... Pavelski became the fifth United States-born player in NHL history with at least 11 25-goal seasons, joining Keith Tkachuk (13), Modano (13), Patrick Kane (11) and Joe Mullen (11).