Stars pull away from Maple Leafs for 4th win in row

Jake Oettinger made 27 saves for the Dallas Stars in a 5-1 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at American Airlines Center in Dallas on Sunday.

“You never want to waste a goalie performance like that,” Dallas coach Glen Gulutzan said. “But I thought we were good in the first. I thought in the first we were pretty good, had some chances, and then I think we got a little loose and out of rhythm and Jake had to save us in the second. I thought the second was poor, one of our poorer periods, and that’s when Jake held the fort and made some saves.”

Jamie Benn had a goal and an assist, and Jason Robertson, Sam Steel, Mavrik Bourque and Justin Hryckowian scored for the Stars (25-7-5), who have won four in a row.

Scott Laughton scored, and Dennis Hildeby made 17 saves for the Maple Leafs (15-15-5), who have lost five of their past six games (1-4-1), including 5-3 loss to the Nashville Predators on Saturday.

“I thought we were better, for sure,” Laughton said. “We created chances for ourselves, we made a lot of plays through the middle of the ice, and just couldn’t get one to go when we needed it. They were opportunistic in their play and got a couple in the third. It’s tough sledding right now. You lose all three on the road, it’s not a great feeling, but we’re going to have to figure it out here and come out of this. We have the guys to do it. It’s just putting it together here, but yeah, it was better.”

Oettinger kept it scoreless at 8:21 of the first period when he made a glove save on Auston Matthews’s breakaway attempt.

“That breakaway I thought I had him beat,” Matthews said. “We had some good looks and good opportunities tonight, and he made some big saves. That’s why he’s one of the best goalies in the world. So, sometimes you have to tip your cap. Definitely thought we deserved better, but that’s kind of the way it’s going right now. We just have to continue to grind through it.”

Oettinger said that save gave him confidence early in the game.

“Yeah, it was huge,” he said. “I think anytime you can get a big save like that early on, I feel like it just kind of gets the juices going and makes you feel like you’re in the game. Thankfully, I made a good save on him there and made me feel like I was in it.”

The Stars went up 1-0 at 18:30 of the first period. Robertson got around Jake McCabe to retrieve a loose puck in the offensive zone before scoring past Hildeby from the bottom of the right face-off circle.

Toronto outshot Dallas 21-8 after two periods, including 15-4 in the second.

“Through two periods I really liked our game,” Toronto coach Craig Berube said. “Lots of chances and opportunities. It’s not going in right now. Eventually it wears on you throughout the game. Third period they got that third goal and it set us back pretty good.

“I thought we defended extremely well tonight. That’s a good team over there, we all know that. We didn’t give up much.”

Steel made it 2-0 at 5:03 of the third period, scoring for the second straight game when he deflected a point shot from Ilya Lyubushkin in the slot.

Laughton cut it to 2-1 at 8:39. He carried the puck in on a 2-on-1 with Nicolas Roy and shot over Oettinger’s blocker from the left hash marks.

Benn responded for the Stars at 12:10, deflecting a point shot from Miro Heiskanen in the slot to make it 3-1.

Bourque scored into an empty net to make it 4-1 at 17:55, ending a 10-game goal drought.

Hryckowian put in a rebound over Hildeby’s right pad at 19:43 for the 5-1 final.

The Stars have outscored their opponents 22-8 during their four-game winning streak and have the second-fewest regulation losses in the NHL with seven.

“We’ve found different ways to win every night,’ Oettinger said. “Whether it’s goaltending, power play, individual guys having huge nights, full 60-minute efforts, it’s taken a little bit of everything, and it feels like every night we have different guys stepping up, and it just goes to show the depth of our team.”

NOTES: Maple Leafs forward William Nylander has gone 11 straight games without scoring. His last goal came on Nov. 26 against the Columbus Blue Jackets. “I actually feel pretty good right now,” Nylander said. “Lots of chances every night. Whether it’s me or my line, we’re getting chances. That’s the way you have to look at it.”