DALLAS — Jason Robertson scored twice, and the Dallas Stars defeated the Florida Panthers 5-1 at American Airlines Center on Sunday.
“I got a lot of Grade A looks tonight,” Robertson said. “When you get that many, your confidence starts to feel good, especially when you get one early and just start hammering away.”
Video: FLA@DAL: Robertson kicks off scoring on rebound
Ryan Suter had two assists, and Jake Oettinger made 27 saves for the Stars (24-11-6), who avoided losing three in a row for the first time this season.
“Real slow start. I thought our energy wasn’t great,” Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said. “I think that last [road trip from Jan. 3-4]getting back really late, I think we carried that a little bit into the first period.
“[Oettinger] was our best player, that’s exactly the story. The goalie gave us a chance to get our legs under us. We got some timely goals, and we won the special teams battle, which is critical and a big piece of what we’ve done all year.”
Carter Verhaeghe scored, and Spencer Knight made 29 saves for the Panthers (18-19-4), who failed to win their third straight for the first time this season.
“Our effort was there,” Florida captain Alexander Barkov said. “I think the first and second period, we played well enough to maybe come out with the lead after the second period. I feel like they’ve just got the goals and the confidence, and then they shut it down in the third period. “
Robertson gave Dallas a 1-0 lead at 16:45 of the first period, scoring on his own rebound from a sharp angle.
“Definitely want to get the first goal in every game, especially when we’re kind of on our heels,” Robertson said. “[We] kind of slowed down their momentum and tried to take over in the second and third period.”
Nils Lundkvist extended the lead to 2-0 at 10:03 of the second period with a one-timer from the top of the left face-off circle on a power play.
“Obviously, you don’t want a ton of Grade A’s [against], but sometimes you need to be sharp early and let the guys find their legs,” Oettinger said. “After that first period, where they were great, we were the better team and our guys scored some big goals. It’s fun to win at home.”
Video: FLA@DAL: Lundkvist hammers in one-time PPG
Verhaeghe cut it to 2-1 at 12:35 when he put in his own rebound off the shoulder of Oettinger, but 39 seconds later, Esa Lindell responded with a wrist shot from the high slot to put Dallas back in front by two.
“We really liked our game to 2-1,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “When they made it 3-1, I really didn’t like our game after that. [We] absolutely stopped skating, and that was the driver for us early through the 3-1 goal. After that, we tried to do it a different, easier way. I’m not sure what way we were trying to do it, but we stopped moving our feet, and (you) can’t play the game if you’re not skating.”
Robertson extended the lead to 4-1 at 4:21 of the third period when he shot five-hole on a breakaway, and Miro Heiskanen scored an empty-net goal at 15:49 for the 5-1 final.
Dallas outshot Florida 11-3 in the third period.
“[Oettinger]’Sa good goalie and a good goalie for a reason. We need to make it more difficult,” Verhaeghe said. “Shoot the puck, and when we get chances, we’ve got to bare down and bury pucks. We need to work on it in practice. They’re a really talented team, and [we] just have to find a way to bury it.”
NOTES: Dallas forward Roope Hintz sustained an upper-body injury in the first period and did not return. DeBoer did not have an update on his status after the game. … Robertson, who has 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in his past 10 games, has 16 multigoal NHL games, the second-most by a Stars player before the age of 24 since the team relocated from Minnesota to Dallas. Tyler Seguin is first with 18.
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