The first time Dallas removed Jake Oettinger, a delayed Winnipeg penalty offered a chance to attack. The second time, the Stars were running out of alternatives. The same extra skater came with a very different price tag.
Both moves produced goals Thursday in Dallas’ 3-2 overtime victory over the Jets at American Airlines Center. Wyatt Johnston scored during the delayed penalty early in the second period. Roope Hintz tied the game with two minutes remaining in the third, when Oettinger’s departure left Dallas exposed to an empty-net goal that could have finished the contest.
That late decision deserves more attention than the familiar instruction to keep shooting. Dallas had been doing plenty of that. It finished with 38 shots to Winnipeg’s 19, and still needed a way past Stuart Skinner with the game nearly gone. Another shot was desirable. Another player able to help create it was worth the risk.
Mikko Rantanen supplied the pass from behind the net to Hintz in the low slot. Hintz supplied the finish. Johnston also assisted. Around them were Miro Heiskanen, Jason Robertson and Tyler Seguin: six skaters committed to finding a goal while there was still a game to save.
There is nothing automatic about replacing a goalie with an attacker. A clean clearance can become an opposing scoring chance without requiring anyone to beat the goaltender. Dallas accepted that exposure because protecting a narrow defeat was no longer an attractive option. A team trailing late has to change the price it is willing to pay for another chance.
The delayed-penalty goal came under different conditions. Winnipeg’s delayed infraction was recorded at 0:52 of the second period; Johnston scored at 1:17 with six Dallas skaters on the ice. The Stars used that temporary opportunity before a formal power play began. Later, with no delayed call to provide the same setting, they had to make the more consequential choice themselves.
Neither goal counted as a power-play conversion. Dallas finished without one on two official advantages. Treating the comeback as a cure for the power play would blur the question the night actually answered: could the Stars execute when they put another attacker into the action? Twice in regulation, they could.
The late personnel also spread the work. Rantanen did not have to supply another goal himself. Johnston’s first goal of this season did not have to be the winning goal. Hintz was available to finish an attack involving both. That distribution is a useful feature of a lineup with several players capable of making the decisive touch.
Skinner gave Dallas every reason to need those touches. He made 35 saves, including all 12 in a scoreless first period. The Stars’ shot advantage did not make Winnipeg’s lead illegitimate or make the next attempt certain to go in. A goaltender can keep a game uncomfortable long after the shot totals begin to look persuasive.
Oettinger spent 44 seconds off the ice across the two pulls. That is a game total, not the length of the late gamble alone. The effect was substantial despite the limited time: the Stars’ regulation scoring arrived with their goalie absent and an extra skater involved.
