The undermanned, underachieving Predators — a ghost of the Nashville team the Stars played in the playoffs recently — had reasons to come into Dallas and leave with a handbook of excuses.
They played the night before and travelled for a back-to-back. They were missing their starting goalie, a top-pair defenseman, their No. 2 center and a pair of depth pieces. They were reeling after three straight losses in which they allowed 15 total goals.
Instead, the Predators left Dallas with two points courtesy of a 4-3 shootout victory over the Stars on Sunday night. The Stars stole a point in a game that they trailed 3-0 in the third period before a furious rally sent the game into overtime.
Nashville captain Roman Josi won the game in the shootout’s third round by beating Jake Oettinger and denying the Stars the full two points. Jason Robertson tied the game with 57 seconds left in the third period, following up on Radek Faksa and Joe Pavelski’s goals.
The loss was the Stars’ 11th in the last 13 games, and any lingering positive feelings emanating from Saturday’s five-goal dismantling of the Blue Jackets faded to the background in the opening 40 minutes, when the Stars seemed destined for another regulation loss.
But Pavelski and company squeezed out a point during a season in which the Stars will need many more to catch up in the Central Division standings. Pavelski finished with a game-high 10 shots on goal as Dallas fired 38 shots on Nashville goaltender Pekka Rinne.
The Stars, too, have their own excuses. Without its top two centers, top-pair defenseman, starting goalie and top-line winger, Dallas was shorthanded and will be the rest of the season given the nature of their condensed schedule. Given the Stars’ place in the standings, excuses ring hollow in the circumstances Dallas has placed itself with its last month of results.
For the second time in the last three games, the Stars’ first two periods buried them.
On Thursday against Columbus, they turned a 3-0 deficit into a close 3-2 loss with a third-period push. On Sunday, the resurgent Stars were back, as all three of their goals came in the final 7:30 of the game. Once again, the hole they dug themselves was too deep.
“Get a little desperate, start really playing on your toes and pushing,” Pavelski said. “There are points out there that we need and want. For whatever reason, once we get that first one, we seem to get a second one and it’s about getting that first one earlier.”
-- Back to Oettinger: Stars coach Rick Bowness went back to Jake Oettinger for the second half of the weekend back-to-back, one night after he posted his first NHL shutout against Columbus. It was the first time in his brief NHL career that Oettinger started both ends of a back-to-back.
“He only had 21 shots against and, as I mentioned, this kid works hard in the gym, on the ice,” Bowness said. “He’s the first on, last off. His conditioning is great. We’re not worried about that one bit. If it were a tougher game last night, like 40 to 50 shots against, then you reevaluate that.”
Typical starter Anton Khudobin allowed three goals on 22 shots Thursday in a loss against Columbus.
-- Other changes: Defenseman John Klingberg and his fiancée Fanny welcomed their first child early Sunday morning, so Klingberg missed the game against Nashville. Joel Hanley entered the lineup, while Mark Pysyk ascended to the top pair to play alongside Esa Lindell.
Forward Roope Hintz missed Sunday’s game, his sixth absence of the season. Hintz has been hampered by a nagging lower-body injury that is expected to bother him the rest of the regular season. Before the game, Bowness labeled Hintz a game-time decision.
Bowness also said that forward Alexander Radulov would be out at least another week with a lower-body injury. Radulov has not played since Feb. 4 in Columbus. Sunday was the 12th consecutive game the top-line winger has missed.
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