Stars down Predators to pull within striking distance of playoff spot

The numbers from Thursday's Stars win in Nashville were a lot like so many games before.
Dallas had an advantage in shots on goal (31-22), shot attempts (52-43) and quality scoring chances. The Stars won the battle of the faceoff circle and had more hits.
Yet, within those numbers were a few key plays that resulted in a 4-1 victory instead of another overtime loss. It was a great lesson in just how close the margin is for a team that is balancing on the edge of a skate blade in its quest to qualify for the playoffs.

WATCH: [All highlights from Stars' victory over Nashville]
"We got some puck luck around the net, and I've been saying all year It's that timely goal, it's that timely save … that's how close it is,'" Stars coach Rick Bowness said. "At some point in every game, you need that goal to give you a boost and you need that save to give you a boost, and we got both tonight. That's probably one of the better games we played all year. The emotion was good, the passion was good.<br>"That's a good hockey club that we beat tonight, they've been on a roll, and we needed to come up with ourA' game tonight, and we did."
Dallas on Tuesday took a 2-1 lead, but failed to stretch its advantage, saw Nashville tie the game in the third period, and then watched as the Predators won it in overtime. It was a heart-wrenching loss with a lot of lessons. On Thursday, the Stars learned from that, dug in deep, and came up with a huge power-play goal early in the third period.

Denis Gurianov, who was a goat on Tuesday in the overtime loss, worked to get a hard shot on net, and the puck deflected off of a Nashville defender and the skate of Jamie Benn, then flew past Predators goalie Juuse Saros for a 3-1 lead. Miro Heiskanen added an empty-netter, and that made the outcome look a lot easier than it was.
"Any win feels good right now," said Benn. "We got a lot of good efforts out there from every player that played in that game tonight. We'll take that two points and enjoy it and move on."
The Stars are now 12-12-10, good for 34 points. With Nashville and Chicago losing in regulation, the Stars now sit five points back with four games in hand. Both Chicago and Nashville are at .512 in points percentage, while the Stars are at .500. This clearly is anyone's race with 22 games remaining in the season.
Still, the Stars knew just how they would feel if they didn't win.
"We had to beat Nashville, we couldn't fall any further behind," Bowness said. "We knew it was going to be another tough grinding game, and it was. But we needed this one. To come in here and take three out of four (points), that's what we needed to do."
Dallas took the lead early when Blake Comeau made a smart play off the boards in transition and slipped a pass to defenseman Esa Lindell on the rush. Rocco Grimaldi tried to steal the pass, and that allowed Lindell to step around into the slot and make a pretty shot for a 1-0 lead 2:39 into the game.

Nashville tied things up late in the first on a charge to the net from Colton Sissons, but Dallas received a huge play from Roope Hintz and Jason Robertson in the second that tilted the ice in the Stars' favor. Hintz used his speed to fly across the slot and take everyone with him. He then turned and fired back to a wide-open Robertson for an easy slam-dunk goal and a 2-1 lead.
Robertson now has four goals in his past five games, while Hintz has four goals and five assists in the past seven games he has played.
Asked what kind of impact Hintz has when he is in the lineup, Benn said: "A big one."
"He's a great player," Benn added. "What he does for our lineup is huge. He brings it every night and you saw it again tonight. He just makes things happen out there. You can't say enough good things about him."
On Thursday, Benn fell into that category, as well. The captain has been struggling with just one assist in his previous eight games, and he and Gurianov have been seeking chemistry while playing on the same line. So to connect on a key goal was a huge moment for both.

"We've played a few games together now and we're working through it," Benn said when asked about Gurianov's recent slump. "I'm not exactly hot myself, so we're trying to stay positive with each other and do what we can for this team. It's nice to contribute tonight, for sure."
The key is whether or not it can continue. Because every game is so close no matter how much the Stars dominate the stats, a big goal from Benn or Gurianov really can change the outcome. Likewise, Anton Khudobin coming up with a few big saves really allowed the Stars to relax and play the third period with a bit of calm.
"When you're winning, it's always positive," Khudobin said of striking the right vibe. "Yes, it's one game at a time, that's how it is right now, because it's a lot of games on our schedule. But, of course, when you finish a game on a good note, you just have a little breather out after the game, jump on the plane and just go get ready for the next one."
The next one is Saturday at Carolina (followed by another game against the Hurricanes on Sunday), so the Stars would love to get a bit of momentum. They have not won consecutive games since January, so now would be a good time to get on a bit of a roll.
"Going into Carolina, we've closed the gap with those teams ahead of us," Bowness said. "We enjoy this game tonight, but tomorrow we start getting ready for Carolina, because that will be a huge weekend for us."
At the very least, they have a blueprint for what they need to do, and they can look at it in the light of positivity.

Up next

at Hurricanes; Saturday 6 p.m. CT
PNC Arena, Raleigh, N.C.
TV:Bally Sports Southwest Plus, NHL Network
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.