– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
Follow @Koiki_Sport Follow @ALOST_Official
DALLAS — The Dallas Stars might have just figured out how to cure their early-season scoring woes: just give the puck to Mikko Rantanen and get the heck out of his way.
Rantanen’s power-play overtime goal completed his 11th career hat trick, as he singlehandedly lifted the Stars to a 3-2 victory over the Boston Bruins inside American Airlines Center on Tuesday evening. The victory extended the Stars’ winning streak to three games while snapping Boston’s run of victories at five.
Despite their depth of proven scorers in front and at the blue line, the Stars entered tonight fourth from bottom in the league at just 2.38 goals per game, relying on their defense and goalkeeper Jake Oettinger — and his three shutouts so far — to earn their victories. No shutout was forthcoming after Boston’s Matthew Poitras scored on a one-timer just 2:09 into the contest.
Rantanen got his first goal early in the second period to tie the game at 1-1, though James Hagens answered for the Bruins less than five minutes later on a tip-in from a centering pass to restore Boston’s one-goal lead. Again, Rantanen tied the game in the third, when a shot from Jason Robertson that deflected off Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy caromed right into Rantanen’s path before sweeping home the puck past goalkeeper Jeremy Swayman.
Swayman kept the Bruins in with a chance at two points with two remarkable saves on two breakaways by Wyatt Johnson in the span of 10 seconds in overtime. But later, on the power play, Rantanen skated down the left wing and towards the crease before releasing a deft backhand over Swayman’s shoulder and into the roof of the net for the game-winner.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Tuesday evening’s game, with photos taken by ALOST photo editor Ross James. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page. Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 31 pictures in total.
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