DALLAS – Jason Robertson scored twice and Jake Oettinger made 28 saves in his season debut as the Dallas Stars beat the Detroit Red Wings 5-2 on Tuesday night.
Robertson’s wraparound at 3:48 of the third period gave Dallas a 4-2 lead after Detroit scored twice within a span of 5½ minutes in the second period.
Recommended Videos
His second goal was an empty-netter that glanced off the post after sliding nearly the length of the ice with about two minutes left in third, just after a faceoff win by Luke Glendening — a Michigan native who played his previous eight NHL seasons with the Red Wings.
“I was just trying to chip it out,” Robertson said of the empty-netter, “and it went post in.”
Ryan Suter, Jamie Benn and Roope Hintz also scored for the Stars, who have won two straight games for only the second time this season with five goals in both wins.
“We’ve battled back to get to .500,” Dallas coach Rick Bowness said. “We’ve got to keep getting better.”
Larkin leaves game due to COVID protocol
Filip Zadina and Dylan Larkin scored for the Red Wings, now losers of three of their last four games. Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 25 shots but his three-game winning streak was snapped.
But Larkin, the Red Wings captain, was removed from the game before the start of the third period due to COVID-19 protocol. Coach Jeff Blashill said he’d need to consult with general manager Steve Yzerman to see what happens next with Larkin.
The 22-year-old Oettinger, who was 11-8-7 last season as a rookie, was recalled from Texas of the American Hockey League on Saturday after Braden Holtby was sidelined with a lower body injury. Oettinger got Tuesday’s start with Anton Khudobin fighting a non-COVID illness.
“There’s some stuff obviously that I want to clean up,” Oettinger said, “but I thought it was a good start.”
The Red Wings were swept in a road back-to-back, losing 5-3 at Columbus on Monday night after leading 3-2 in the third period.
Blashill lamented the defensive play of a team that went into play ranked 24th in goals against average.
“We’re a pretty good team when we have the puck. We’re a pretty good team when we’re hounding. We’re a pretty good team when we’re playing offense," he said. “We’re not a good enough team defensively right now.”
Suter put Dallas ahead 1-0 with 7 1/2 minutes left in the first period on a wrist shot from the high slot past a screened Nedeljkovic. The Stars doubled their lead on a similar goal only 1:06 into the second period when Miro Heiskanen’s shot from the blue line was deflected in by Jamie Benn.
And Hintz’s wrist shot at 7:24 of the second period gave the Stars a 3-0 lead. Hintz has scored in three straight games after he was held without a goal during the season’s first 11 games.
Zadina answered for the Red Wings at 9:09 of the second, charging the net on an odd-man rush and flipping a backhander past Oettinger. The Wings pulled within 3-2 with about five minutes left in the second on Larkin’s blistering wrister banked off the crossbar 13 seconds into their only power play.
Red Wings forward Tyler Bertuzzi made an unofficial save six minutes into the first period. With a scrum around the Detroit net, Bertuzzi slid behind his goalie and, with his knees on the goal line, took a puck to the chest off Hintz’s stick.
Robertson, with an assist on Suter’s goal, was the only player with multiple points. He has two goals and five assists in the last four games. … Lucas Raymond assisted on Larkin’s goal to give the NHL’s leading rookie scorer 18 points in 18 games. … It was Dallas’ ninth straight home win over Detroit. … Stars forward Joe Pavelski has three goals and four assists in a seven-game points streak.
Red Wings: At Vegas on Thursday for the third game of a four-game trip.
Stars: At Minnesota on Thursday.