Robertson has 2 points, Stars defeat Hurricanes

DALLAS -- Jason Robertson had a goal and an assist, and the Dallas Stars defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 4-2 at American Airlines Center on Tuesday.

“We just stuck to what our game plan was coming into it. Everyone bought in and just trying to slow them down as much as we could,” Robertson said. “There are still some things we should clean up. Our breakouts were good, got a lot of blocked shots, [goaltender Jake Oettinger] was obviously incredible, didn’t take a lot of penalties. It was a pretty solid 5-on-5 game.”

Oettinger made 32 saves for the Stars (33-14-6), who are 8-2-1 in their past 11 games. Matt Duchene had a goal and an assist, and Joe Pavelski had two assists.

“Playing well and guys are playing well for me, doing little things you need to do to win, like block shots and play well in our own end,” Oettinger said. “We’ve done that for the most part. That’s what you need to win, especially this time in the season. We’re going to score a ton of goals, and if we can keep the puck out of our own net, we’re going to be really good.”

Jordan Staal had a goal and an assist, and Jordan Martinook had two assists for the Hurricanes (30-17-5), who had won five of their past six. Pyotr Kochetkov made 19 saves.

“We gave up breakaways. A couple of unfortunate bounces in the neutral zone led to them getting odd-man rushes, and they capitalized,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “We had some odd-man rushes in the first period and we passed it, passed it, passed it, instead of firing at the net. That put us behind the eight ball. Overall, I thought we had a really good game. We were doing a lot of really good things. [Oettinger] made some really great saves down there, including the one on [defenseman Brett Pesce] with a chance to tie it up. The bounces weren't going our way tonight."

Roope Hintz gave Dallas a 1-0 lead at 9:53 of the first period with a wrist shot five-hole from the left face-off dot.

Staal scored from the slot off a backhand saucer pass from seth Jarvis 13 seconds into the second period to tie it 1-1.

“It was a good game, could have gone either way. We made a few mistakes, and they made us pay,” Staal said. “They did a good job of capitalizing on their opportunities. We had some opportunities, some good looks to tie it up, and just came up short. It wasn’t a terrible game, but it wasn’t our best. There were some mistakes out there, and we gave them a few. The first one was a tough one for me, too, but it was a good battle and a good game. But we have to find a way to get points.”

Mason Marchment put the Stars back in front 2-1 at 5:04 with a one-timer after Nils Lundkvist circled the net and found him in the left circle.

“I first had almost a breakaway, my first breakaway in like three years,” Lundkvist said. “I tried to hold onto it, but it didn’t work out. Great shot by [Marchment] and great pass by Duchene to me, so good goal. [Duchene] probably drags three guys on him and I can just walk down and try to make a play.”

Jesper Fast tied it 2-2 at 15:16 when the puck deflected in off his skate at the side of the net.

“Overall, we placed a pretty decent game. It was a very tight game out there,” Fast said. “Small details went in their favor. We just got to reload and get ready for the next game.”

Robertson gave Dallas a 3-2 lead at 4:35 of the third period with a wrist shot off the rush from inside the right face-off circle.

Duchene scored into the empty net from the defensive zone at 17:35 to push it to 4-2.

Carolina forward Michael Bunting appeared to cut it to 4-3 when he poked a rebound under Oettinger at 18:28, but Dallas successfully challenged for goaltender interference.

“I thought it was just a good hockey game. Good goaltending at both ends, good chances both ways,” Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said. “You can see why they’ve been one of the elite teams in the League for the last probably five, six years. Put a lot of pressure on you all over the ice.”

NOTES: Oettinger has won six straight games. … Pavelski, Hintz and Robertson have been on the ice for 78 goals at 5-on-5 dating to last season, the most among any trio in the NHL. … Marchment extended his point streak to seven games (three goals, six assists).