Dallas Stars

Stars rally past Senators after Oettinger departs with lower-body injury

Oettinger left eight minutes into the game and was replaced by Scott Wedgewood

Ottawa Senators defenseman Erik Brannstrom (26) and Dallas Stars center Roope Hintz (24) battle for the puck during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Dallas, Friday, Dec. 15, 2023.
AP Photo/Michael Ainsworth

Miro Heiskanen and Matt Duchene scored 44 seconds apart in the third period, and Dallas beat the short-handed Ottawa Senators 5-4 on Friday night after Stars goalie Jake Oettinger departed with a lower-body injury.

Joe Pavelski, Esa Lindell and Thomas Harley also scored for Dallas, which trailed 4-2 midway through the second.

Oettinger left eight minutes into the game. He was replaced by Scott Wedgewood, who stopped 25 of 27 shots and improved to 6-1-1.

Drake Batherson scored two goals for Ottawa, and Jakob Chychrun had three assists. Josh Norris and Travis Hamonic also scored.

Senators goalie Anton Forsberg made 19 saves in his 10th start of the season.

Ottawa played without veteran forward Vladimir Tarasenko, who was scheduled for his 700th career NHL game. The team said Tarasenko was attending to a family matter.

Tarasenko’s replacement, Rourke Chartier, left after two periods with an upper-body injury after fellow forward Mathieu Joseph departed after the first period with a lower-body injury.

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The Senators were coming off a 4-2 loss at St. Louis on Thursday night.

Heiskanen tied it at 4 with his fourth goal of the season at 7:33. It was his third goal in two games after going 23 games without a goal.

Duchene banked the puck off Norris at 8:17, giving Dallas its only lead of the game. It was Duchene’s eighth of the season.

Oettinger allowed goals on the Senators’ first two shots on net. Hamonic scored 76 seconds into the game, and Batherson made it 2-0 with his ninth at 2:51.

About five minutes later, Oettinger extended his right pad to the post and soon after signaled to an official to call a timeout and skated to the tunnel at center ice.

Pavelski’s 13th goal, on a power play, came on Dallas’ second shot on a tip-in at 11:46.

The teams then traded 4-on-4 goals. Norris made it 3-1 when he knocked in a rebound at 13:20. At 13:30, Lindell connected from the right circle off the left post.

Batherson recorded his second two-goal game of the season, shooting over a prone Wedgewood at 4:54 of the second.

Harley’s second-effort poke between Forsberg’s pads at 11:21 of the second got Dallas within one. It was the Stars’ seventh short-handed goal, one short of the league lead.

UP NEXT

Senators: At Vegas on Sunday night for the middle game of a five-game trip.
Stars: Will complete a back-to-back at St. Louis on Saturday night.

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