DALLAS – Roope Hintz and Joe Pavelski scored 1:15 apart late in the third period and the Dallas Stars stopped Pittsburgh’s winning streak at 10 games, beating the Penguins 3-2 on Saturday.
Hintz scored on a backhander with 3:46 left after Pavelski converted off a rebound with 5:01 to go, sending the Stars to their fourth straight win. Hintz and Pavelski share the team lead with 13 goals, and it was Hintz’s fourth winner this season.
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“In the first (period), we were just giving them a little bit too much respect,” Stars coach Rick Bowness said. “Then I think in the second and the third, we started to play Dallas Stars hockey.”
Denis Gurianov also scored and Jake Oettinger stopped 27 shots for Dallas. Jason Robertson assisted on all three goals and has a 10-game home points streak.
The two third-period goals capped a period in which Dallas outshot Pittsburgh 15-8 after being outshot 21-17 before in the first two.
“Our game got better as it went,” said Pavelski, who has four goals and four assists in the last five games. “There was a lot of energy in the building.”
Brian Dumoulin and Kasperi Kapanen scored in a 25-second span early in the first period for the Penguins. Tristan Jarry made 29 saves.
Pittsburgh had the NHL’s longest winning streak this season. It is 18-1-1 when leading after two periods and 18-2 when scoring first.
“I don’t think we had the juice that we normally have throughout the course of the 60 minutes,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “We knew this was going to be a challenge and that this would take a lot of effort and energy to win.”
Before the game, the Penguins added forwards Bryan Rust and Brock McGinn to their COVID-19 protocol list. Rust had seven goals and four assists in Pittsburgh’s last three games after missing the previous 11 with a lower-body injury.
Rust was the third NHL player in the expansion era to record 11 or more points in the first three games of a calendar year, joining Wayne Gretzky (11 in 1982, 15 in ’84) and Mario Lemieux (12 in 1997).
The Penguins played with 11 forwards, with Jeff Carter, who was recently cleared from the protocol, appearing in his first game since Dec. 19. They played their third game in four days.
Dumoulin scored at 6:02 with a wrist shot from the outer edge of the left circle. The Pittsburgh defenseman has two goals this season, both in the last four games.
Kapanen made it 2-0 with a redirect of Marcus Pettersson’s wrist shot from near the left point.
Gurianov finished an odd-man rush by sneaking a shot to Jarry’s short side at 16:01 of the second period.
Pavelski tied it 14:59 into the third period, converting a rebound of Robertson’s shot near the blue line.
It was Dallas’ second game following a 17-day pause with 11 players on the COVID-19 list at some time during that stretch.
KLINGBERG UNHAPPY
Veteran Dallas defenseman John Klingberg, who assisted on the tying goal, is in the final year of a seven-year contract and said he’s frustrated with the state of negotiations.
“I’ve been a Dallas Star since day one. I’ve made it pretty clear I want to stay here,” said Klingberg, who was drafted by Dallas in 2010. That said, he said, “I don’t feel I’ve been appreciated.”
“I don’t get into contracts,” Bowness said. “That’s not my job description.”
WORTH NOTING
Gurianov’s goal followed a career-best three-point game (one goal, two assists) Thursday in a 5-4 shootout win over Florida. … Dallas is 13-3-1 at home, Pittsburgh 10-4-3 on the road. … Jake Guentzel extended his points streak to 17 games, assisting on Dumoulin’s goal. ... Kris Letang also assisted on that goal, giving him five assists and seven points in his last nine games at Dallas. … Penguins superstar Sidney Crosby has no goals in 10 career games at Dallas.
UP NEXT
Penguins: Monday at Anaheim in the third game of a season-long six-game road trip.
Stars: Finishing a back-to-back at St. Louis on Sunday afternoon.
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