Pavelski scores on power play in OT, Stars beat Jets 3-2

DALLAS -- The Dallas Stars didn’t want to be in overtime after blowing a two-goal lead. Joe Pavelski didn’t mind because he’d been there before.

Pavelski scored on the power play 2:02 into overtime and Dallas beat the Winnipeg Jets 3-2. His third career overtime winner ended a four-game losing streak (0-3-1) for the Stars.

“We made a little play over there and (Tyler Seguin) shot it,” Pavelski said. “Great play by him on the rebound to lay it back out in front. I had an open net. Pretty good to see that one come.”

The winning goal came 31 seconds after Josh Morrissey went to the penalty box. Seguin’s backhand pass helped Pavelski score his sixth goal this season.

“I thought we carried the play on the 3-on-3 (overtime),” Dallas coach Jim Montgomery said. “We were really good with the puck and without the puck and drew that penalty.”

Dallas goalie Ben Bishop made 36 saves, 13 in the third period and overtime. Jamie Benn scored on the power play in the first period. Denis Gurianov’s goal gave Dallas a 2-0 lead in the second period. The Stars had lost 11 of the last 14 games against Winnipeg.

Blake Wheeler and Mark Scheifele tied the game with third-period goals for the Jets, who outshot Dallas 13-3 in the period. Scheifele’s came with 45 seconds left in regulation, after goalie Connor Hellebuyck had been lifted for a sixth skater. Hellebuyck also had 36 saves.

"Great pass by (Patrick Laine),” Scheifele said. “He was challenging, and I just tried to get a good shot. They were collapsing, so if the puck gets cross-ice, you're going to get a bit of room."

The Stars pulled within one point of the Jets, third in the Central Division. At home, Dallas is 10-4-1, the best record in the Western Conference.

Wheeler broke up the shutout with a wrist shot from low in the right circle that bounced off Bishop and over his left shoulder into the net at 1:38 of the third. It was Wheeler’s ninth goal and 37th point in 34 career games against Dallas.

Winnipeg coach Paul Maurice hoped for more but was pleased with his team’s comeback.

"Rightfully so, this team's proud of its effort. They're not hanging their heads. It's the opposite feeling. We've played well, we've won a bunch of games. Let's go try to win one more and leave the building feeling good.”

Two minutes into the game, the Stars’ Corey Perry had poked the puck away from Hellebuyck and inside the left post. The apparent goal was waved off immediately.

With 3:38 left in the first, a scramble in the blue paint in front of Hellebuyck went to video review, which indicated that the puck didn’t go past the goal line. The goalie stopped two shots, defenders blocked two other close-in attempts and Scheifele and Dallas’s Blake Comeau went off for roughing.

A tripping penalty on Laine resulted in a Dallas power play. As Scheifele and Comeau returned to the ice, Benn sent a wrist shot from the top of the left faceoff circle past Hellebuyck into the right side of the net.

The Stars outshot Winnipeg 14-8 and led 1-0 after one period.

Gurianov scored his first goal in more than a month at 9:25 of the second. His wrist shot from the right circle found a hole between Hellebuyck’s blocker and pad leading into the lower left corner.

Bishop stopped all 15 shots by the Jets in the second. The Stars had 16.

Game notes
Jets D Nathan Beaulieu returned after missing four games because of an upper-body injury. ... Dallas RW Alexander Radulov was a healthy scratch. ... The Stars lost 5-1 at Winnipeg on Tuesday. This was the first of three home-and-home series in December for the Jets. ... Scheifele has 16 goals and 34 points in 29 career games vs. the Stars. ... Dallas RW Denis Gurianov’s fifth goal of the season was his first since Nov. 2.

UP NEXT

Jets: Play Anaheim on Sunday in the first of two home games.

Stars: Host the Islanders on Saturday in the second of a four-game homestand.

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