'Huge relief': Stars squash shootout woes to keep pace in postseason race

DALLAS --The Stars needed that, in more ways than one.
Yes, Dallas really needed to tally two points to keep up in the race with Nashville for the fourth and final playoff spot in the Central Division. But in beating the Detroit Red Wings, 3-2, in a shootout Monday night at American Airlines Center, the lads in Victory Green received a double dose of goodness.
It was just the second shootout win for the Stars this season, just the third victory in 15 games that have gone past regulation. So, maybe for one night, the 12 overtime/shootout losses could be put in the past and positivity could fill the postgame locker room.

"Honestly it's a huge relief," said rookie Jason Robertson, who had one of the two shootout goals. "I know that everyone in the locker room has been disappointed in the last few months about the points we have left on the table in the shootout. It's a skills competition at the end of the day, but we are really glad and really happy that we finally got the win in the shootout."
There were plenty of reasons to be happy.

Both Robertson and Denis Gurianov scored slick shootout goals, giving confidence to each of the young wingers. Anton Khudobin was spectacular on a few of the shootout saves, adding to a game that was much more difficult than his 20 saves would indicate. And Roope Hintz continued to barnstorm through an impressive points streak, picking up a goal and an assist to give him three goals and 10 assists in his past six games.
It was a needed victory in so many ways.
Dallas (18-14-12, 48 points, .545) has pushed itself into a nice run that has it in fourth place in the Central in terms of points percentage. Nashville (25-21-1, 51 points, .543) still sits three points ahead and picked up a big 5-2 win over Chicago on Monday, so that pressure was there. But the Stars have three games in hand and have four straight games against the Red Wings, so there is a possibility to do some good things right now.
The fact those good things materialized was important.
"We just have to find a way every game we play them, and find good things with what we did today, and fix the things we didn't do good today the next game," said Hintz.

Dallas had a 36-22 advantage in shots on goal and a 74-43 cushion in shot attempts, so it dominated long stretches of the game. Still, the Red Wings were persistent and wouldn't go away. Dallas took a 1-0 lead on a Hintz power play goal in the first period, but then Robertson made a bad read on a power play in the second period, and that opened the door for Detroit to race up ice and score in transition as Luke Glendening converted a long rebound into a tie game seven minutes into the second period.
However, a few shifts later, Robertson and his linemates were relentless on a cycle and that resulted in the rookie battling for his 13th goal of the season on a goalmouth scramble.
It was a great lesson in how you have to stay in the moment and bounce back from mistakes.
"Their first goal was a poor read by me. I need to be better defensively, and I think that's my responsibility," Robertson said. "I will take ownership over that, but I am just glad that my line was able to get the next one and get right back at it."
Stars coach Rick Bowness said the coaching staff will have a video session with Robertson, and that he's sure the rookie will continue to grow from his mistakes.

"He made a couple of reads on the forecheck that we will straighten out," Bowness said. "Those goals started not in our zone; they started in their zone. We were just on the wrong side of the ice. We will straighten that out."
Because that's what you have to do at this time of the year. Teams are pushing hard, whether they're trying to earn a playoff spot or trying to keep you from one.
"We grinded it out," said winger Andrew Cogliano. "They're a good team, they play hard and I think we're going to have three (more) games exactly like that."
The Stars pushed hard in the third period and overtime, but simply couldn't get the goal past Detroit goalie Thomas Greiss. Esa Lindell had a glorious chance in transition and John Klingberg had a bang-bang chance on the doorstep, but Greiss came up big.
Then, in the shootout, Robertson scored and Khudobin took his turn to play hero. Khudobin stuck out his toe to foil a shot from Evgeny Svechnikov that could have ended the game, and that gave Gurianov the chance to give the Stars the lead with a patient goal that he lifted over Greiss. Khudobin then foiled Filip Hronek and Dallas had the rare extra point and a huge celebration.

"He made the saves that he had to make," Bowness said. "They had a couple of extra chances in the third period that I wasn't thrilled about that we will take a good look at. The goals, you aren't going to do much with those goals. That second one hits a couple of sticks and bounces in. You can't do anything about that.
"He made some key saves at the right time as we have talked about all year and his performance was very solid."
At this time of year, solid is good. It's helping the Stars stay in the playoff race and helping them think positive thoughts, as they now have a seven-game point streak (5-0-2) and a shootout victory to boot.
"It's definitely exciting," said Robertson. "These are our last couple of games at home. Every point matters, so when we won the shootout, that was a huge relief. We need these points down the stretch, so we will take whatever we can get. We've got these guys tomorrow, so we can try to build on what we did in the third period.
"It's going to be a good one tomorrow, but we will be ready."

Up next

vs. Red Wings; Tuesday 7:30 p.m. CT
American Airlines Center
TV:Bally Sports Southwest Plus
Radio:The Ticket 96.7-FM, 1310-AM
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mike Heikais a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika, and listen to his podcast.