Nursing a three-game losing skid, the Winnipeg Jets were hoping to turn things around in Dallas Thursday night.
For a while, it looked like they were going to, but they were unable to protect the lead late in the third period before falling 3-2 in overtime to the Stars.
Neither side found the back of the net during the first 20 minutes. Dallas failed on their lone power play while Winnipeg had 3:50 of unsuccessful 5-on-4 time.
Dallas also outshot Winnipeg 12-6 in the first.
Things got much more eventful in the second period, and it didn’t take long for the action to pick up.
With a penalty pending against the Jets, Dallas pulled their goalie and took advantage as they were able to find a wide open Wyatt Johnston who put one past a diving Stuart Skinner just 77 seconds into the period.
The Stars continued to ramp up the pressure in the first half of the period, outshooting the Jets 10-2 over the first 9:11 of the second.
But Winnipeg began to turn things near the midway point. With Dallas on another power play, Brayden Yager was sprung on a breakaway and was denied by Jake Oettinger but it seemed to ignite a shift in the Jets’ level of play.
About a minute later, after Winnipeg killed off the penalty, they tied the game. After the Jets won a puck battle below the goal line in the Dallas zone, Alex Iafallo got the puck and sent it back to Dylan Samberg at the point.
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His wrist shot was handled by Oettinger, who thought he had the puck frozen but it was sitting on top of his pad and Gabriel Vilardi dug it out before slamming it into the net for a pressure-relieving first of the season.
Less than two minutes later, Winnipeg took their first lead of the night.
Dallas had the chance to clear the puck but botched a breakout, resulting in the puck landing on the stick of Neal Pionk at the left point. He skated it towards the middle of the ice before sliding a pass across to Kyle Connor that the Jets’ leading scorer sniped into the back of the net for his ninth of the season.
Each side had some decent chances to find the back of the net as the period wound down. Viggo Bjorck had a great look in tight for his first NHL goal but was denied by Oettinger while Skinner had to show off some lightning-quick reflexes to pull a bouncing puck off the goal line in the final seconds.
Dallas did end up outshooting Winnipeg 14-8 in the period.
The Jets almost built on their lead when a wrist shot from Samberg rang off the post about four minutes in.
Winnipeg was unable to generate much on a power play midway through the period, and the game stayed 2-1 for much of the third before an icing call with just under 2:30 to go.
With the faceoff in the offensive end, Dallas decided to pull the goalie and with exactly two minutes left on the clock, the Stars drew level.
The puck was cycled behind the Winnipeg goal to Mikko Rantanen, who held onto it for a moment before spotting Roope Hintz cutting to the front of the net. Rantanen passed it to his fellow Finn who made no mistake.
Just 16 seconds after Hintz scored, Tyler Myers sent the puck over the glass in his own end, giving Winnipeg a glorious opportunity to take the lead back but they were unable to generate much of anything before the final horn sounded.
It took a couple of minutes for the chaos to begin in overtime but once it did, the teams went up and down the ice. Bjorck made a great play to deny Jason Robertson in the Winnipeg end, springing an odd-man rush that Winnipeg hoped would end the game.
Instead, a Pionk wrist shot was blocked by Robertson, sending the puck to the corner where Miro Heiskanen got there first as Hintz started to skate up the ice. Heiskanen sent an area pass to Hintz with nobody around him, he collected it, walked in alone on Skinner and fired a shot five-hole to end the game.
Skinner did all he could, stopping 35 shots while Oettinger only had to make 17 saves to get the win.
Winnipeg now heads home to take part in the much-anticipated Heritage Classic Sunday against Montreal at Princess Auto Stadium.