Magical saves to timely goals, Stars get it all in win over Tampa Bay

The Stars have talked all season about getting "that" goal or "that" save or "that" play, because far too often they have not.
On Thursday, they got it all, and maybe a reminder that they are capable of being all that when they put their mind to it.
From the coaching staff down to rookie goaltender Jake Oettinger, the Stars pushed the right buttons en route to a 4-3 win over the Tampa Lightning.

WATCH: [All highlights from Stars' victory over Lightning]
Rick Bowness and his staff decided to put together the top line of Roope Hintz with Joe Pavelski and Jason Robertson, and the trio came up with three goals and five assists.
Oettinger allowed two rebound goals to put the Stars in a 2-0 hole in the second period, but then rebounded with a couple of great saves that helped pave the way to his fifth career win -- and maybe his biggest so far in his rookie season.
And the Stars faced immense pressure when Tampa Bay (24-7-2) tied the game with 4:50 remaining in regulation, but fought off the daunting specter of overtime by winning on a beautiful play from Pavelski to Robertson to Hintz with 1:21 on the clock.

"We know that overtime record," Bowness said of a 2-8 mark in overtime and shootouts. "If we were .500 in overtime and shootouts, we'd be in a playoff spot, but we haven't been. You talk about a timely goal and that was it. Give [Tampa Bay] credit. They battled hard to get that goal, but it was great to see us come back and respond."
On a night when Chicago and Nashville both won, the Stars (11-11-8) needed to keep pace. Dallas has games in hand on the Blackhawks, Predators and Blue Jackets, but it needs to start winning those games. They knew that, and announced before the game that "pretty good" wasn't good enough.
"We've played really well against Tampa all year. We have, and it is nice to finally get two points against them because we feel we have played a lot better than the record indicated," Bowness said of being 1-3-1 in five meetings. "We had to go and finally beat them, which we did, but more important than anything, we needed two points tonight. We need to get back in that conversation for that final playoff spot, and I know Chicago won again tonight.
"We need to beat the top teams. We have three more with these guys, we have five more with Florida and four more with Carolina, so we have to find ways to beat the top teams because we have a lot of games against them coming up."

If they play like this, the opportunity will be a lot more realistic.
The top line's chemistry was both desired and surprising. Yes, these three players have been the team's top offensive weapons, and putting them together made sense, but the Stars simply have struggled to get any offense going. So in addition to assembling this group, Bowness and his assistants pushed hard to get more shots on goal.
The Stars finished with a season high 42, and that attitude helped spark the offense.
After all, Dallas was outshooting the Lightning 2-to-1 and were still down 2-0 midway through the second period. Then, Blake Comeau made a nice pass to spring Miro Heiskanen free, and Heiskanen converted a beautiful backhand rush that beat Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy and lifted a huge burden off the team.

Pavelski and Robertson scored two goals within a minute of each other to give Dallas a 3-2 lead, and all of the sudden, some of the team's swagger came back. Pavelski's goal was a nice shot on the power play that went top shelf, while Robertson's one-timer also beat Vasilevskiy high.
It was a chain reaction of getting the puck, shooting the puck, and letting your instincts take over.

"On a team like that that defends so well, someone has to step up and fire a shot even if it doesn't have a great chance of going in," Pavelski said. "At times, we have hurt ourselves by making too many little plays in the neutral zone. We simplified coming through the neutral zone and that's a big part of it … force that other team to make a few mistakes."
And force yourself to gain a bit of confidence.

"I think getting a lot of shots on net builds more and more confidence because one, you are not really turning the puck over, and that's always a good thing, and two, it creates scrambles and chances, and everyone is reloading," Robertson said. "Obviously, Bones preaches shots on net, and that's something we want to continue to do. For me, especially."
As pretty as the goals were for Pavelski and Robertson, the passing on the last goal was just as impressive. Pavelski threw a quick pass between his legs off the boards, and Robertson quickly fed Hintz breaking down the middle of the ice. Hintz then skated in and beat Vasilevskiy for the game-winner.

"The chemistry of that line was really good," Bowness said. "Again, the chemistry with Robo and Roope; they think the game the same and Robo is very good at hanging onto the puck and letting Roope use his speed. Pavs is smart enough to read off the two of them and know where he is supposed to be."
Meanwhile, Oettinger came up big by stopping Ondrej Palat with a huge paddle save and also simply played a solid game when his teammates made mistakes.

"There were a couple of major breakdowns there and [Tampa Bay] got the goals. And then there was a huge breakdown and [Oettinger] made a huge save," Bowness said. "It's what we have said all along: Jake is a tremendous competitor, and he is just going to keep getting better. Big saves at the right time … we need that."
From everyone, so to speak.
"Big goals at the right time … it's what we have talked a lot about for 30 games," Bowness said. "That big save at the right time and the big goal at the right time -- we have missed it too many times during the season, and we got it tonight."

And now they can hopefully build on that.
"We've had that feeling a lot this year," Pavelski said when asked if the team really felt the need to win coming into the third period. "It's gone back and forth where we win and then we lose, so we've got to stay ready to compete. We're going to see some good teams along the way, and we believe we're a good team. I thought we just handled it better (tonight).
"Each one feels like you've got to have it right now."

Up next

vs. Panthers; Saturday 7 p.m. CT
American Airlines Center
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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.