With the game tied 1-1 and 15 seconds left in overtime, Tyler Seguin had a Dallas chance to end the night before it reached the shootout. Cam Talbot stopped him. Twelve seconds later, with three seconds remaining, Thomas Harley tried again and was denied.
The Stars had the better overtime attack, but the 2-1 shootout loss to Columbus still came down to the old hockey problem: chances are encouraging right up until they remain chances.
The late sequence was compact. Harley had already tested Talbot at 2:01 of the five-minute overtime. Columbus produced its lone overtime shot at 3:48. Seguin’s attempt came at 4:45, and Harley’s second arrived at 4:57. All three Dallas shots were stopped, leaving the extra point to the shootout, where the Blue Jackets prevailed 2-0.
That is a frustrating way to lose a game Dallas had positioned itself to win. Three overtime shots against one should create a strong opportunity to settle matters with skaters still on the ice. It does not guarantee a goal, particularly against a goaltender who had already made the night difficult, but it does raise the cost of failing to finish one of those chances.
Talbot had already complicated the night well before the extra period. Lindell’s second-period wrist shot required a spinning glove save at 9:16. The goalie then stopped Robertson’s breakaway at 16:45, using his left pad to deny Dallas a lead. Those saves kept the game scoreless, leaving the later overtime attempts as further chances to solve a goalie who had been difficult to beat all evening.
The goaltender finished with 27 saves on 28 Dallas shots over 65 minutes and was named the game’s first star. That should keep the critique pointed in the right direction. Dallas was not defeated because every missed opportunity represented poor finishing.
Talbot earned much of the credit. Still, a quality opposing performance does not erase the fact that Dallas had a 3-1 edge in overtime shots and no overtime goal to show for them.
The Stars did find the first breakthrough in regulation. Mikko Rantanen put Dallas ahead 6:27 into the third period for his ninth goal of the season. Wyatt Johnston received the assist after Dallas took advantage of an Ivan Provorov turnover, and Rantanen finished the play after Johnston’s shot was stopped.
The goal gave Dallas the kind of one-goal margin that can hold when Casey DeSmith is playing as he did Thursday.
DeSmith stopped 29 of Columbus’ 30 shots through overtime. Columbus, however, kept enough pressure on the game to make one goal feel precarious: the Blue Jackets finished with 30 shots to Dallas’ 28. Zach Werenski tied it 16:46 into that period, with 3:14 left, sending a backhand past DeSmith’s left pad with Kent Johnson and Matthew Knies credited with assists.
Dallas then created its best answer in overtime instead of drifting through it. Harley finished the game with five shots and three blocked shots in 28:31, the largest workload among the Stars’ skaters. His two overtime attempts gave him a direct hand in the club’s late push, while Seguin added three shots overall in 15:22.
