Dallas returned home Sunday night to take on Toronto after a west coast sweep of the San Jose Sharks and Anaheim Ducks. The Leafs, who sat at the bottom of the league at the time of the game, played a tighter game than Dallas might have liked, but ultimately fell 5-1.
Both clubs looked flat in the opening ten minutes of the game and spent a lot of time struggling to maintain possession of the puck in their own zones. But, it was Dad’s Night for the Stars, giving the team a little extra something to play for.
When the teams settled in and started taking more shots, Jake Oettinger, who looked sharp all night, made an impressive save against Auston Matthews’ breakaway chance in the middle of the first period, which made up one of the six shots on goals by Toronto. Dallas ended the period with four.
“I honestly thought he was gonna go five-hole, and then just went down and threw my glove out. I think he maybe missed the spot, so I got lucky there,” Oettinger said. “Whenever you get a save like that early on, you feel like the juices are flowing and kind of feel like it might be your night. So, happy to come up big, and that’s my job to make those saves.”
With four minutes remaining in the first, defenseman Miro Heiskanen got sent to the box for a delay of game penalty, but the Stars were able to kill the penalty and capitalize off the end of it. Oskar Bäck flipped a puck towards Jason Robertson, who swiped the puck out of Jake McCabe’s reach and sent it past Dennis Hildeby’s blocker side and into the net for his 23rd goal of the season.
The second period started with a tripping penalty from Matias Maccelli that was interrupted by a Roberton hooking call that sent the power play to four-on-four play. Neither teams scored, however.
Maverick Bourque did manage to get a rebounded puck from Roope Hintz past Hildeby, but Toronto used a coach’s challenge to determine that Hintz was offsides when entering the zone. The goal was called off, and the score remained 1-0.
For a team with such a dominant power play, the Stars could not manage to score during the two power plays in the second. But they were able to to kill three Maple Leafs power plays and escape the second period with their lead intact.
“I thought our second was one of our poorer periods,” head coach Glen Gulutzan said. “But that’s when Jake held the fort, made some saves. We took some penalties, got some big kills, but we certainly got out of rhythm. And give them credit… they’re playing hard but we regrouped. We regrouped in the third and didn’t waste the performance.”
Sam Steel added to the tally early in the third when he deflected Ilya Lyubushkin’s wrist shot into Hildeby’s net. Dallas looked to continue that momentum after Philippe Myers got called for interference, but Toronto had other plans. Scott Laughton scored shorthanded and put Toronto on the board.
The Stars responded quickly. Miro Heiskanen launched a wrist shot from the top of the zone and Jamie Benn deflected the puck into the net to put up his sixth goal of the season. The captain is in his 17th season with Dallas and said after the game with a smile that he felt like he was getting closer in age to the dads than his own teammates.
As time winded down, Oettinger continued to stump the Leafs’ shot attempts, even as they went empty net. The goalie even racked up an assist after bumping the puck to Esa Lindell, who sent it flying down towards Toronto’s vacant net. Bourque tracked the puck down the ice and slammed it in the goal, getting a bit of redemption from his called-off goal in the second.
“Really consistent play,” Benn said on Bourque. “He’s taken big strides this year from last year and I think he’s been really good for this hockey club, and it’s nice to see him get rewarded with one.”
Justin Hryckowian, another player who has been improving all season, put up a goal with sixteen seconds left to play and put an exclamation mark on the Stars’ 5-1 win against Toronto.
The Stars will look to extend their winning streak as they head to Detroit on Tuesday to take on the Red Wings at 5:30 pm CT in their third to last game of 2025.