Washington put 12 shots toward Jake Oettinger in the third period. Dallas put up four. That split does not establish possession—shots are attempts, not a clock—but it does explain why the Stars’ 6-5 victory over the Capitals felt far less orderly than the scoreboard suggested.
The final period belonged to Washington in volume and pressure. Dallas’ answer was to get one goal on the board before the chase became desperate.
Roope Hintz supplied it at 1:23, giving Dallas a 6-3 lead after the Stars had carried a 5-3 advantage into the intermission. His intended pass deflected off Washington defenseman Martin Fehervary and went past Charlie Lindgren, with Esa Lindell and Jason Robertson receiving the assists.
It was Dallas’ only goal of the period, and it arrived early enough to change the arithmetic of every subsequent Washington attack.
That was the important exception inside an otherwise unfavorable frame. Dallas did not win the third-period goal count; Washington won it 2-1. But Hintz’s goal meant the Capitals needed three scores to take the lead rather than two to tie. A team can dislike the shape of a period and still benefit from having created more margin before that shape takes over.
Washington’s first reply came at 12:55, when Justin Sourdif scored after Anthony Beauvillier’s shot came off Sourdif and then off Oettinger before rolling in. Beauvillier and Ilya Protas were credited with the assists. The sequence was untidy, which is often how late pressure becomes dangerous: a puck does not need to arrive through a clean, repeatable route to count.
Sourdif’s goal cut the deficit to two and gave the Capitals another reason to keep pressing.
The shot count then acquired its proper meaning. It was not a possession meter, and it did not prove that every Washington attempt was equally threatening. It did show that Oettinger had little margin for a quiet finish.
He stopped 10 of Washington’s 12 third-period shots after making six saves on six shots in the first. Those saves belong in the account, alongside the fact that Washington’s shooters had to finish the chances they generated. Neither side gets to assign the entire period to one actor.
Oettinger’s workload also clarifies what Dallas was asking of its lead. The Stars scored six times on 22 shots overall, while Washington scored five on 25. Those conversion rates describe a wild night more than a sustainable formula, especially when the teams combined for seven goals in the second period alone.
Dallas had built a 5-1 lead, watched Washington make it 5-3 before the second intermission, and then needed Hintz’s deflection to restore a three-goal cushion. The margin kept changing faster than either team could make the game look settled.
