O’Reilly has 3 points, Predators top Stars in Oettinger's return 

DALLAS -- Ryan O'Reilly had a goal and two assists, and the Nashville Predators defeated the Dallas Stars 6-3 at American Airlines Center on Friday.

“Obviously, that’s a big win for us,” O’Reilly said. “I thought we started the game a little slow, but we kind of weathered the storm. Going into that third period, we stuck with it. It was positive we just kept working to get a huge win like that.”

Filip Forsberg had a goal and an assist, and Roman Josi had three assists for the Predators (23-18-1), who have won four of their past six games. Kevin Lankinen made 19 saves.

“I thought we were really good,” Nashville coach Andrew Brunette said. “Besides the first five minutes of the game, I thought we did all things we like to do. I don’t think we gave them a lot of space. We nullified their rush game. In the third period, we made it a little harder on ourselves than needed, but it was a great 20-man effort. Everybody was pulling their own tonight.”

Matt Duchene had a goal and an assist for the Stars (24-12-5). Jake Oettinger made 32 saves in his first game since sustaining a groin injury early in a 5-4 win against the Ottawa Senators on Dec. 15.

“I was just happy to get back in there," Oettinger said. "Two good teams, close game. Things I can definitely be better at, some good stuff I did. Just move on and take the good and learn from the bad. Felt confident going into tonight. Going to look at some tape and work on some stuff, but overall, I feel like I did some good stuff that will help me down the road.”

Jeremy Lauzon gave Nashville a 1-0 lead at 9:22 in the second period, converting on a rebound off the glove of Oettinger while falling to the ice.

Tommy Novak made it 2-0 at 13:51 on a shot from the top of the right face-off circle with the teams at 4-on-4.

The Stars and Predators combined for seven goals in the third period.

Jani Hakanpää cut it to 2-1 at 1:09, sneaking down the back side and putting a wrist shot over the blocker of Lankinen from the right circle.

O’Reilly restored the Predators’ two-goal lead, making it 3-1 at 3:41 when he scored on a rebound past Oettinger’s leg from the left side of the crease.

“He’s been awesome,” Josi said. “He’s been in the League for a long time. You hear a lot of things, he’s played on different teams, and you hear certain things from other guys. His work ethic, the way he plays, and to have him on your team and see him firsthand, he’s the hardest working guy. He’s the first guy at the rink, last guy to leave. So much detail in his game, and he’s scoring too, so he does it all for us and he’s been unbelievable.”

Wyatt Johnston cut it to 3-2 at 8:11 on a rebound from the high slot during a delayed penalty.

Forsberg pushed the lead to 4-2 at 10:08 with a sharp-angled shot from the goal line on the power play.

“Loved our start," Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said. "Took a bad penalty in the first and kind of lost momentum. Then they, for the rest of the night, just pushed us to the outside. We didn’t get to the inside at all. We didn’t get pucks or bodies into the scoring areas. We played a soft perimeter game for the rest of the game.”

Duchene cut it to 4-3 on the power play at 13:36, sneaking a one-timer over the shoulder of Lankinen from the bottom of the right circle.

Gustav Nyquist scored into the empty net at 17:27 to make it 5-3, and Juuso Parssinen added another empty-net goal at 19:29 for the 6-3 final.

“A little slow at the start," Hakanpaa said. "Got better as we went but just didn’t have it tonight. We weren’t doing enough to win a game here. I think guys in here want to get back at it as fast as we can and show what we can do. I think it’s going to be good for us to get one tomorrow [at the Chicago Blackhawks] right away and use this one as a little bit of motivation to make sure we come out buzzing tomorrow.”

NOTES: Nyquist extended his point streak to 10 games (14 points; seven goals, seven assists). … Josi tied Brent Burns and Kris Letang of the Pittsburgh Penguins for the third-most three-point games among active defensemen (32), behind Erik Karlsson of the Penguins (49) and Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning (39). Josi’s 15 three-assist outings ranks sixth among active defensemen behind Hedman (26), Karlsson (25), Letang (19), Quinn Hughes of the Vancouver Canucks (18) and Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche (16). … Novak got his 70th NHL point, requiring the third-fewest games to reach the mark with Nashville (109), behind Forsberg (102) and Marek Zidlicky (107). … O’Reilly is tied with Alex DeBrincat of the Detroit Red Wings for the most points among players with a new team this season (38). O'Reilly has 16 goals and 22 assists. … Dallas has 58 third-period goals, surpassing the Winnipeg Jets (57) for the most in the NHL.