At 8:21 of the second period, with the Dallas Stars already leading 3-0, Oskar Bäck took a two-minute high-sticking penalty. At 2:11 of the third, Lian Bichsel took another two minutes for interference, this time with Dallas ahead 4-0. Those were different game situations, but the requirement was identical: do not let San Jose turn a comfortable score into an unsettled one.
Dallas killed both penalties on the way to a 5-0 victory over the Sharks at American Airlines Center. The attack created the margin; the penalty kill preserved it. Dallas scored every goal at even strength. Its special teams did not supply the cushion, but they made sure San Jose never got a foothold.
Two penalties, two intact leads
Bäck’s minor came after Jamie Benn’s snap shot at 6:19 had pushed the Stars’ advantage to three. A power-play goal would not have made the game close, but it would have changed the conditions around it. Dallas instead returned to full strength with the 3-0 lead untouched.
The Bichsel penalty arrived after Jason Robertson’s unassisted wrist shot at 16:30 of the second had made it 4-0. San Jose had less time and a larger deficit to overcome, yet Dallas still had to finish the kill rather than let the scoreboard do the defending. The Sharks remained scoreless, and the Stars carried their four-goal margin into the final stretch.
Jake Oettinger provided a specific part of that work. He stopped all three San Jose shots recorded on the power play during the game. A team can spend most of the night limiting shots and still need its goaltender when the opposition gets an extra skater.
These kills required that contribution. The Stars’ scoring advantage gave them room to survive a mistake; Oettinger’s saves helped prevent the mistake from becoming a goal.
Oettinger finished with 13 saves on 13 shots, a light overall workload that should not obscure the value of those three power-play stops. Dallas also blocked 13 shots and limited San Jose to seven through the first two periods. Those contributions helped keep the volume manageable; Oettinger’s perfect power-play line marks the moments when the goalie still had to complete the job.
Even strength created the breathing room
The Stars’ offense handled the heavier assignment. Miro Heiskanen opened the scoring with a backhand at 18:51 of the first period. Joel Kiviranta made it 2-0 at 3:17 of the second, and Benn scored 3:02 later. Robertson’s goal at 16:30 created the 4-0 advantage before Mikko Rantanen’s wrist shot at 15:22 of the third completed the scoring.
