Hintz scores in OT, Stars rally past Senators for 3rd straight win

OTTAWA -- Roope Hintz scored 3:04 into overtime, and the Dallas Stars rallied for a 3-2 win against the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre on Tuesday.

Following numerous chances from the Stars, Hintz collected the rebound of Jason Robertson's shot in front and lifted it over a sprawling Linus Ullmark.

Robertson had a goal and two assists, Mikko Rantanen had a goal and an assist, Miro Heiskanen had two assists, and Jake Oettinger made 27 saves for Dallas (10-4-3), which has won three in a row.

“They dump the puck [in] at the second-highest rate in the League behind Florida, so we knew that they come with this heavy forecheck,” Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said. “And we just didn’t handle it well in the beginning. We were losing battles, losing wall battles and not breaking out clean, and you could see what happened, right? They had the momentum. And once we kind of got it stabilized, got our puck play and our legs going a little bit, we got it to neutral and then we could start to play after that.”

It was Dallas’ first win in Ottawa since March 6, 2016 (0-6-2).

“It meant a lot, I think,” Robertson said of ending the drought. “I mean, I’ve only been here for six years, so it’s been six times, but everyone going in, we wanted this one really bad.”

Drake Batherson and Nick Jensen scored for the Senators (8-5-4), who extended their point streak to six games (3-0-3). Ullmark made 30 saves, including 15 in the third period.

“We played a really good game,” Ullmark said. “We were on it, we were skating, we were doing a lot of good things, putting them on their heels. We got two really good goals, [kept] them on the outside in our own zone, so there was a lot of good things. [The first period] might be one of, if not the best, period that we’ve played this season so far.”

Batherson gave Ottawa a 1-0 lead just 49 seconds into the game when he took a cross-ice pass from Jake Sanderson and beat Oettinger over his right shoulder with a wrist shot from the left face-off circle.

Jensen pushed it to 2-0 at 8:53. Pinching from the blue line, Jensen finished a passing play with Michael Amadio and Claude Giroux by chipping the puck over Oettinger’s glove in tight.

“Obviously not ideal, but I just try to tell myself to just keep it at two,” Oettinger said. “We have so much firepower, I feel like we get two every night, for the most part. So, just keep it at two or under.”

Senators defenseman Thomas Chabot, who took a hard hit from Colin Blackwell midway through the first, did not return because of an upper-body injury.

Rantanen cut it to 2-1 at 16:22 of the second period. After forcing a turnover at the Stars’ blue line, Rantanen broke down the ice, accepted a stretch pass from Robertson and beat Ullmark five-hole with a snap shot on a breakaway.

“I thought for the first 37 minutes of the game it might’ve been maybe our best hockey of the year,” Ottawa coach Travis Green said. “Third period, I thought, they’re a good team, they pushed. Our back end got a little bit tired with 'Chabby's minutes being out. It was a hard-fought game.”

Ullmark made back-to-back saves while lying on his side to keep it 2-1 midway through the third period. The first he made with his glove on Alexander Petrovic, and for the second he did a double-pad stack on Wyatt Johnston.

“He’s such a good goalie. Kept us in it all night,” Batherson said of Ullmark. “He played really awesome.”

However, Robertson beat Ullmark over his glove with a wrist shot from the high slot on a power play to tie it 2-2 at 8:00. It was Robertson’s first goal in 10 games.

“I was on the bench saying, ‘Now would be the time,’ and it happened.” Gulutzan said. “Those top guys are paid to score goals. It gives them a lot of confidence, especially when they get a big one. And that was a big one for us.”

NOTES: Rantanen has 11 points (five goals, six assists) in his past six games. … Green did not have an update on Chabot’s status. “I’ll probably know more tomorrow,” he said.