Oettinger makes 43 saves, Stars hand Flames 6th straight loss

CALGARY -- Jake Oettinger made 43 saves, and Jamie Benn had a goal and an assist for the Dallas Stars in a 4-3 win against the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome on Wednesday.

Jason Robertson and Evgenii Dadonov scored, and Roope Hintz had two assists for the Stars (6-1-1), who have won their past two games and five of six.

"We're working through it,” Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said. "We're working on our game. We're building our game. There's lessons being learned. At the same time we're 6-1-1, so it's good, and these are tough teams and tough buildings and desperate teams we're playing. We'll take as many wins as we can get."

MacKenzie Weegar had a goal and an assist, and Connor Zary scored in his NHL debut for the Flames (2-7-1), who have lost six straight in regulation. Jacob Markstrom made 26 saves.

"I think you've got to move on quick," Weegar said. "If you get frustrated, you get down on yourself in this league, it'll eat you up and spit you out. You've got to stay positive, you've got to stick with it. There's a great leadership group and great guys in this room. When times are tough like this we've got to rally with each other, we've got to care for each other, and build confidence for the guys that might not be feeling it or build confidence all over the ice. That's what we've got to do as a team here."

Dadonov shot top corner over Markstrom's blocker from the far side on the rush to put Dallas up 3-2 at 10:07 of the second period.

Mason Marchment extended the Stars' lead to 4-2 with 12 seconds left in the second when he tapped a centering pass from Matt Duchene from the top of the crease.

Weegar shot short side through an Elias Lindholm screen and over Oettinger's right shoulder for a power-play goal that cut it to 4-3 at 2:20 of the third period.

Oettinger made a left-pad save on Zary's deke at 7:55 after Zary split between two Stars defenders to go in alone.

"Jakey's a stud," Benn said. "We don't get any of those wins without him. He's played some great hockey to start the year here. We obviously want to keep improving in front of him."

Oettinger also made a shoulder save and subsequent stop on a crease scramble in the final minute of the third, just moments after a puck got behind Oettinger before defenseman Esa Lindell made a skate save.

The Flames outshot the Stars 22-5 in the third.

"I think if we continue to play the way we did in that third period, this is a group that's capable of winning a few in a row while playing like that," Flames forward Nazem Kadri said. "Just got to build off it. Throughout this stretch I felt that there were maybe a couple games that could've went our way and didn't, and it's our responsibility to fight through it."

Zary, recalled from Calgary of the American Hockey League on Tuesday, gave the Flames a 1-0 lead 5:28 into the first period when he backhanded a loose puck behind Oettinger over the goal line.

"I remember it hitting me," Zary, 22, said. "I remember just trying to find it and it dropped down right in front of me and I put it in. I just remember looking around, just happy as can be, just screaming. It was pretty cool."

Benn scored short-handed to tie it 1-1 at 19:06 when he tapped a centering pass by Hintz from behind the net past Markstrom's blocker.

Andrew Mangiapane scored on a shot past Oettinger's blocker to put the Flames up 2-1 at 1:57 of the second period, and Robertson tied it 2-2 at 4:35 when he took a drop pass from Hintz and shot past Markstrom from inside the left circle.

"I thought our bounce-back after their second goal was big," Benn said. "'Robo' got a big goal for us and got us some momentum. Jakey was the star of the third. I don't know how many shots they have, but we have to have a better third and improve on that."

NOTES: Duchene has one goal and three assists during a four-game point streak. ... Oettinger is 5-0-1 with a 1.95 goals-against average and .939 save percentage in six games this season. ... Calgary has been outscored 24-9 during its losing streak and is 0-6-0 when trailing after two periods. ... Zary, selected by the Flames in the first round (No. 24) of the 2020 NHL Draft, is the first Calgary player to score in his first NHL game since Patrick Sieloff on April 9, 2016. ... Flames defenseman Nikita Zadorov did not play because of a family matter. ... Stars forward Radek Faksa did not play because of an upper-body injury.