Granlund scores twice, lifts Stars past Ducks in OT

DALLAS -- Mikael Granlund scored his second goal of the game at 2:32 of overtime to give the Dallas Stars a 4-3 win against the Anaheim Ducks at American Airlines Center on Tuesday.

Granlund won it on a backhand shot off a rebound in the slot.

“It was big,” Granlund said. “There was a lot of penalties in the first two periods. They scored a few goals off of those and (we) couldn’t get into the rhythm. We battled back in the third and got the two points we needed. There’s no easy game in this league. Bottom line, we got the win and we’re going to try to get better once we move forward here.”

Thomas Harley had a goal and two assists, and Wyatt Johnston also scored for the Stars (43-21-3), who had lost two in a row and three of four. Roope Hintz had two assists, and Jake Oettinger made 22 saves.

“We knew that if we played our best five-on-five game we were going to come out on top in this game, and we stuck with it in the third period,” Harley said. “We’re a veteran team in here. We know that if we play our game, we’re going to have a chance to win every game. We’ve been down before, it’s nothing new. We’ve just got to keep working.”

Dallas moved four points ahead of the Colorado Avalanche for second place in the Central Division.

“Important win. They’re not all pretty, especially over a long season, so we found a way,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “We did some good things. I thought the first half of that game we could have had four or five goals. Missed some really good looks, their goalie made some saves, they hung around.

“The one thing we have to clean up is we’ve taken 10 minor penalties in the last two games. You can’t do that. That’s a great equalizer this time of year.”

Leo Carlsson scored twice in the second period, and Nikita Nesterenko also scored for the Ducks (29-31-8), who have lost four of five. Lukas Dostal made 27 saves.

“That’s a really good team over there,” Nesterenko said. “They’re up top of the League every single year for the past few years. We were right there with them, chance for chance -- might have even had more than them in the third there. To get a point, obviously we want two, but to get a point there feels good.”

Johnston gave Dallas a 1-0 lead on the power play at 11:42 of the first period when he tipped Harley’s point shot.

Nesterenko tied it 1-1 at 2:48 of the second period on a deflection in front of the net.

Granlund put Dallas back ahead 2-1 at 4:25 when his shot from the bottom of the left face-off circle bounced in off Dostal’s blocker.

Carlsson tied it 2-2 on the power play at 13:03 when he knocked the puck across the line in the crease. The goal was initially waved off for goaltender interference, but the call was overturned after Anaheim challenged successfully.

“The first 30, 32 minutes, I thought Dallas controlled the play and were outshooting us and out-shot-attempting us,” Ducks coach Greg Cronin said. “We got a big boost from the special teams, a couple of big kills and then our power play scored and had some zone time. I think that gave us some energy. And then I really liked our third period a lot.”

Carlsson scored on a penalty shot to give the Ducks a 3-2 lead at 19:20. He deked to Oettinger’s left with the backhand before stuffing the puck past his right skate on the forehand.

“Good third period, lot of chances. Scored a couple of goals too,” Carlsson said. “I feel like we were playing simpler, getting it deep and on the forecheck. A lot of the boring, hard stuff that works.”

Harley tied it 3-3 at 4:37 of the third period after Jamie Benn found him in the high slot from behind the net.

NOTES: Johnston became the fourth Stars player to score 25 goals this season, which marks their most at this stage of a campaign (through 67 games) in team history. He also extended his home goal streak to six games. … Carlsson tied Mason McTavish for the most multi-goal games (four) by a player before the age of 21 in Anaheim franchise history. … Carlsson (20 years, 82 days) became the youngest player in Ducks history to score a goal on a penalty shot, besting the previous mark set by Sam Steel (21 years, 51 days) on March 26, 2019.