Jamie Benn scored a goal and added an assist and Jake Oettinger made 43 saves as the visiting Dallas Stars claimed a 4-3 victory over the struggling Calgary Flames on Wednesday.
Jason Robertson, Evgenii Dadonov and Mason Marchment also scored for the Stars, who have won five of their past six games. Oettinger made 21 of his saves in the third period, and Roope Hintz collected two assists.
MacKenzie Weegar produced a goal and an assist while Connor Zary, in his NHL debut, and Andrew Mangiapane also scored for the Flames, who have lost six consecutive games and sit 31st overall in the league. Goalie Jacob Markstrom stopped 26 shots. Nazem Kadri and Elias Lindholm both notched two assists.
Zary, a 2020 first-round draft choice, made his debut one to remember when he opened the scoring at 5:28 of the first period. The 22-year-old center headed to the net as a point shot was blocked, but the puck landed in the crease behind the goalie, and he tapped it in the net.
Benn’s gift of a short-handed goal in the final minute of the first period tied the game. Markstrom was caught trying to play a puck behind his net and Hintz stole it before it reached the trapezoid and sent a pass to the front of the net for Benn to bury his third of the season.
Mangiapane restored the Calgary lead 1:57 into the second period. Mangiapane was left alone in the slot and with plenty the time ripped a top-shelf shot for his fourth of the season. However, the Stars subsequently pulled away.
Robertson again pulled Dallas even just a couple of minutes later, finding the mark from the right circle on a rush up ice for his second of the campaign.
Dadonov gave Dallas a 3-2 lead midway through the second period when he rifled a shot into the roof of the net from the slot for his third of the season. Then Marchment’s goal during a scramble, his second of the season, extended the lead with 11.9 seconds remaining in the middle period.
Weegar’s power-play goal 2:20 into the third period, his second of the season, pulled Calgary within one, but the Flames could not net the equalizer.
–Field Level Media
