Stars defeat Golden Knights in shootout, close in on West wild card

DALLAS -- Miro Heiskanen scored the only goal of the shootout in the seventh round, and the Dallas Stars closed in on a wild card berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 3-2 win against the Vegas Golden Knights at American Airlines Center on Tuesday.

Dallas leads Vegas by four points for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Western Conference and is tied with the Nashville Predators for the first wild card.
"That's a very good hockey team we played tonight, and it was a [heck] of a hockey game we're giving our fans tonight," Dallas coach Rick Bowness said. "They're behind us 100 percent. The crowd and the enthusiasm is fantastic. We love the atmosphere here."
The Stars, Golden Knights and Predators each have two games remaining; Nashville, which has five more regulation wins than Dallas, clinched a playoff berth Tuesday.

Jason Robertson scored twice to reach 40 goals, and Jake Oettinger made 33 saves and did not allow a goal in the shootout for the Stars (45-30-5).
"Those are the opportunities you want as a professional athlete, to be able to step up for the guys that are in the room," Oettinger said. "This time of year, you want to be a guy that's looked upon [to win]. The guys look down in the net and they know I'll be able to step up for them and be big. Just really happy to have had the opportunity to play in a game like this. To get the win obviously makes it that much better."
Chandler Stephenson scored for the fourth straight game, and Logan Thompson made 28 saves for the Golden Knights (42-31-7).
"[Thompson's] been a warrior for us," Vegas forward Mark Stone said. "Put into a tough situation, first-year goalie. He had three starts before he was pushed into being our starting goalie for the toughest stretch of hockey of the season. All the props to him, he gave us a chance to win every night. It looks like he has a bright future ahead of him. He's definitely not the reason we're in this situation. He battled for us night in and night out."
William Carrier gave Vegas a 1-0 lead at 19:11 of the first period after his centering pass deflected off the stick of Dallas forward Luke Glendening.
Robertson tied it 1-1 at 13:31 of the second period when he stick-handled around Golden Knights defenseman Brayden McNabb and sent a wrist shot towards the outside post between Thompson's pad and elbow.

Stephenson scored on the power play to give Vegas a 2-1 lead at 19:56 on a net-front scramble.
"The urgency is something," Robertson said. "When they scored in the last minute both times, to be able to regroup in the locker room and respond to that is a testament to how we played all year."
Robertson tied it 2-2 at 3:13 of the third period when John Klingberg spotted him crashing the net. Robertson tipped the pass from the slot for his 40th goal of the season.
"I thought our guys left everything on the ice tonight," Vegas coach Peter DeBoer said. "We've got a lot of guys playing banged up and they gave us what they had.
"We've still got a pulse. We're not eliminated. I'm proud of our group. I thought we came in and played a [heck] of a road game. Got the lead, was up again. Had some chances to win the game that we just didn't finish on."

NOTES: Robertson is the fourth player in Stars history to score at least 40 goals in a season (Mike Modano, 50, 1993-94; Jamie Benn, 41, 2015-16; Tyler Seguin, 40, 2017-18). … Robertson has seven points (four goals, three assists) in a four-game point streak. … Klingberg reached 40 assists for the third time in the NHL.