Heiskanen has 3 points, Stars score 6 in win against Red Wings

DALLAS -- Miro Heiskanen had two goals and an assist for the Dallas Stars in a 6-3 win against the Detroit Red Wings at American Airlines Center on Monday.

“It was really important [to win],” Heiskanen said of Dallas’ response after losing 6-1 to the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday. “[That] wasn’t a good game for us. I think today we played a pretty good 60 minutes. We worked hard all game and deserved to win. It’s a huge win for us and a huge bounce back.”

Jason Robertson and Esa Lindell each had a goal and an assist, and Joe Pavelski scored for the Stars (16-8-3), who had lost three of four. Roope Hintz and Sam Steel each had two assists, and Jake Oettinger made 27 saves.

“The goal at the end of the first [period] was huge,” Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said of Lindell’s goal. “To be able to go in at the end of the first with a lead, that’s a big momentum shift for us and takes that away from them. The [Pavelski] goal is huge, too, because that’s a one-goal game. They’re going to try to get the goalie out again and they have an opportunity to tie it up if we don’t score there. We got timely goals and timely saves today.”

Daniel Sprong and Jonatan Berggren scored, and Shayne Gostisbehere had two assists for the Red Wings (14-9-4), who lost their third straight (0-2-1). James Reimer made 29 saves.

“I think it’s going to grade out as a fairly evenly played game,” Detroit coach Derek Lalonde said. “Shots were pretty even; I’m sure chances were fairly even. They got two on the power play, we got one. I think we just probably need to work on cleaning a few things up.”

Sprong gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead at 5:20 of the first period on a shot from the bottom of the left circle.

Heiskanen tied it 1-1 on the power play at 13:35, scoring from the high slot past a screened Reimer.

“Getting the power plays when you’re moving your feet, playing with the puck, getting off checks, and trying to make plays,” Robertson said. “Doing that more and more, you’re going to get power plays and create opportunities in general. But 5-on-5 shifts kind of drive our game, and then our power play will take care of business.”

Lindell put the Stars ahead 2-1 with one second left in the first on a shot from the high slot that went off the left post and in.

“Just tried to shoot quickly,” Lindell said. “I was surprised a little bit even then. I wasn’t sure if it beat the clock, but nice to see there was a little time left. I was in the [defensive] zone when I got the puck when I looked up, there was maybe five seconds left. I passed it to [Steel] and he made a nice move on the blue [line], and I just knew I had to try to get it off quickly.”

Robertson extended it to 3-1 at 11:16 of the second period on a shot from the bottom of the right circle that he put in high far side.

“I think we ended up playing too much in the [defensive] zone,” Detroit forward Andrew Copp said. I think we were doing an OK job of ending plays, but it was kind of that next play that we weren’t there. I feel like they got a lot of those second-play chances early in the game, probably through the first two periods.

“I think we scored enough goals to win. I think we created enough to win for sure. I think our [penalty kill] let us down and then it was just a little too much [defensive] zone [play].”

Matt Duchene pushed it to 4-1 at 13:30 when Joel Hanley’s shot from the blue line deflected off his stick and in.

Berggren cut it to 4-2 with a goal 22 seconds later at 13:52, scoring on a rebound off a shot from Gostisbehere.

“It’s good to contribute with some offense, that’s my game,” Berggren said. “Nice goal, nice play by [Gostisbehere]. We didn’t get the win though, so it’s kind of boring after.”

Joe Veleno made it 4-3 at 13:21 of the third period on the power play on a rebound from the side of the crease, but Pavelski extended it to 5-3 on the power play 30 seconds later at 13:51 after tipping in a shot from the slot.

Heiskanen scored into an empty net at 19:18 for the 6-3 final.

NOTES: Stars forward Jamie Benn got his 500th NHL assist on Heiskanen’s first goal, becoming just the third player in their history to reach that milestone with the franchise (Mike Modano, 802; Neal Broten, 593); he also tied Broten for second in franchise history with 867 points (367 goals, 500 assists). ... Red Wings forward David Perron did not play as he served the first of a six-game suspension for cross-checking Ottawa Senators defenseman Artem Zub on Saturday.