Heika’s Take: Stars outlast Canadiens in shootout to log seventh straight win

Jason Robertson is a cheat code.

The ardent gamer and professional master of puck wizardry dazzled once again on Saturday night, fooling Montréal goalie Sam Montembeault to score the only goal in the shootout en route to a 2-1 win over the Canadiens at Bell Centre.

Robertson was so casual in his approach, it almost looked too easy, but teammates were once again astounded by the cool head and steady hands of their best shooter. On the opposite end, Jake Oettinger stopped Patrik Laine, Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki in order, and Dallas won its seventh straight while running its point streak to nine games (8-0-1).

Oettinger and Robertson run almost daily shootout battles, so it was appropriate that they were the two in the spotlight. Robertson loves to chirp the goalies and come up with new and interesting ways to beat them. The goalies like to just try to shut him up.

“He’s auto. It’s so annoying going against him,” Oettinger said. “Every time he goes, I expect him to score. His hockey IQ is next level and he challenges Casey [DeSmith] and I every day. He’s a hockey nerd. He studies goalies, he studies how to score.”

Robertson was facing red hot goalie Montembeault who had stopped 34 shots to force the shootout. The 28-year-old is only 2-2-1 against the Stars in his career, but he has a .930 save percentage in those games.

“I expected Montembeault to be good,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “He’s been good every time we’ve played him.”

Montembeault is already on Team Canada’s roster for the 4 Nations Face-off in February, while Oettinger is on the roster for Team USA. DeBoer said it would be interesting if the two faced each other in the same building a month from now. It would be difficult to top the tension of Saturday’s game. The energy was high for Hockey Night in Canada, and the two teams both stuck to their strategies. Montréal played a heavy and hard game, laying out 13 hits in the first period and finishing with a 30-8 advantage in hits. Dallas had a 17-7 edge in shots on goal to start the game and finished the game at 35-31.

Bottom line, it was an interesting clash of styles.

“It was physical,” DeBoer said. “It was a hard-fought hockey game.”

Oettinger said he enjoyed the showdown and the pressure.

“It felt like a playoff game,” he said. “The atmosphere was incredible.”

Montréal got a 5-on-3 power play in the second period and Laine bombed in a one-timer 14 seconds into the two-man advantage. Dallas then busted back and scored when Jamie Benn was able to break free in transition and snap in his 12th goal of the season at the 17:34 mark. The score stood still through a strategic third period. Dallas had a 4-1 advantage in shots on goal in the overtime, but the score stayed the same, and that set the table for Robertson and Oettinger.

Laine was stoned on the first attempt, and then Robertson glided in and surgically swept a puck past Montembeault.

“It’s not as easy as he makes it look,” Oettinger said.

Robertson admits he works hard on his shot and does indeed scout and come up with plans, but he said it’s just a matter of staying calm and executing.

“It’s a read-and-react type thing, but the biggest thing is being confident,” Robertson said. “And I had the full confidence in the team to go out and do the job.”

Now, the Stars are 8-0-1 in their past nine games and have a chance to tie the longest winning streak in franchise history (achieved last season) at eight games. Dallas moves to 27-13-1, good for a .671 points percentage that puts them fourth in the West. They still sit behind Winnipeg and Minnesota in the Central Division, as both won on Saturday.

“We’re slowly closing that gap, but it’s not an easy gap to close in this league,” DeBoer said. “You’ve got to put together streaks like this and when you get in one, you want to keep it going as long as possible.”

That strategy seems the same for Robertson in the shootout. He is 2-for-2 this year and ranks third among active players with more than 20 shootout attempts at 57.1 percent.

“He’s unflappable and he’s got a real confidence about it,” DeBoer said. “He feels like he can score every time, and when you’ve got that, it’s pretty rare.”

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on X @MikeHeika.