Stars vs. Blue Jackets: Thomas Harley and Arttu Hyry Beat the Buzzer Twice as Dallas Snaps Its Skid

The Dallas Stars have apparently decided that the final second of a period is the best time to do business. Thomas Harley scored with 0.2 seconds left in the first, Arttu Hyry hit the empty net with 0.3 seconds left in the third, and everything in between was a grind in which Columbus outshot Dallas but never quite solved Jake Oettinger.

The Stars beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-1 on Saturday night at American Airlines Center. Mikko Rantanen scored a power-play goal, Harley got his first of the season, Hyry had a goal and an assist, Miro Heiskanen added two assists, and Oettinger stopped 24 of 25 shots. Dallas snapped a two-game losing streak and closed a six-game homestand at 4-2-0, according to the AP.

Fast Start, Buzzer Beater, Then a Long Wait

Dallas got on the board early. Jet Greaves was called for delay of game, per the AP, and 33 seconds into the power play, Jason Robertson moved the puck to Wyatt Johnston at the left side of the net. Johnston's backhand feed went across the crease, and Rantanen was waiting at the back post to finish at 2:16 of the first. It was his seventh goal of the season, tops on the team.

The rest of the first passed without a goal, right up until the clock nearly hit zero. Hyry missed the net from the right side, the puck rimmed around the boards to Harley on the left half wall, and the defenseman did not waste time setting up. He snapped it from the boards into the smallest of gaps between Greaves' right skate and the near post. The goal was credited at 19:59, with 0.2 seconds on the clock, and Dallas took a 2-0 lead to the room.

The second period was scoreless, and that suited Dallas fine. Columbus got its only power play when Nils Lundkvist went off for hooking Conor Garland at 6:58, and the Stars killed it. The AP said that pushed Dallas' top-ranked penalty kill to 28 straight successful kills dating to Oct. 13. That is a streak that turns opposing power plays into an exercise in frustration.

Columbus Pushes, Dallas Bends

The Blue Jackets thought they had cut the lead early in the third. Valeri Nichushkin fired from the slot at 2:23, but Dallas challenged, and video review found Columbus offside on the zone entry 12 seconds earlier. The goal came off the board.

The Blue Jackets did get one a few minutes later. They won a draw, Zach Werenski worked the puck down low and centered it, and Damon Severson muscled past Rantanen to bury it at 6:21. It was Severson's second goal of the season, and suddenly the Stars were protecting a one-goal lead with nearly 14 minutes to play.

That stretch belonged to Oettinger. Columbus finished with a 25-17 edge in shots and a lopsided 33-10 advantage in hits, and the Blue Jackets won 60 percent of the faceoffs. Dallas, meanwhile, had 20 giveaways. But Oettinger never gave Columbus a second goal, and Greaves eventually went to the bench for an extra attacker. Hyry found the empty net with 0.3 seconds remaining, giving Dallas two goals in the final second of a period on the same night.

The Stars Who Delivered

Oettinger is the headline even if Harley gets the highlight. The AP noted he entered the night fifth in the NHL with a 1.69 goals-against average but had allowed seven goals over his previous two outings. This was a reset: 24 saves, a .960 save percentage and no second goal allowed during a third period that could have gotten away from Dallas.

Rantanen keeps piling up points. NHL.com said he has 11 points, four goals and seven assists, over his last eight games. His goal was also a nice reminder of how good the Johnston and Robertson connection can be when the power play moves the puck quickly.

Harley's goal was his first of the season, and he logged 22:49 of ice time. Heiskanen played 26:12 and picked up two assists, one on Harley's goal and one on Hyry's. Hyry finished with a goal and an assist in 15:23, won eight of 16 faceoffs and threw three hits, and he had a hand in both of Dallas' buzzer beaters.

For Columbus, Werenski played 28:01 and set up the only goal, and Greaves made 14 saves on 16 shots. Ivan Provorov made his season debut after being placed on injured reserve on Oct. 1, the AP said, and Columbus dressed 11 forwards and seven defensemen.

The Turning Point

The Harley goal. Being down 1-0 after the first is manageable. Being down 2-0 because of a shot that beat the clock by two-tenths of a second is a gut punch, and it meant that when Severson finally scored in the third, Columbus was still chasing instead of tied. In a game where Columbus outshot Dallas and dominated the hit column, that goal was the difference.

Stats That Matter

• 0.2 and 0.3: Seconds left on the clock when Harley and Hyry scored. Dallas made the final second of two periods count.
• 25-17: Columbus' edge in shots. Dallas won anyway.
• 33-10: The Blue Jackets' advantage in hits.
• 28: Straight successful penalty kills for Dallas, dating to Oct. 13, per the AP.
• 24 of 25: Oettinger's save total in a bounce-back night.

What It Means

The Stars are 8-5-1 with 17 points and 5-4-0 at home. The AP noted they never led during their two-game slide, losses of 5-1 to New Jersey and 5-2 to Montreal, so simply holding a lead for most of a game was progress. The AP also pointed out that two of Dallas' homestand wins came against its two previous coaches, Rick Bowness of Columbus and Pete DeBoer of the New York Islanders. Dallas visits Washington on Tuesday.

The Blue Jackets dropped to 5-7-0 with 10 points and 1-4-0 on the road, losing the last two games of a three-game trip. They host Colorado on Tuesday, and these two teams meet again Thursday in Columbus, giving the Blue Jackets a quick chance to settle the score.

Closing Take

On a night built for tricks, Dallas pulled off two of them with the clock almost empty. Columbus did enough to win a lot of the stat categories and lost the only one that matters. The Stars, meanwhile, got their goalie back on track and their losing streak in the rearview, and they did it with timing that would make a game-show buzzer jealous.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details from the Associated Press and NHL.com. No postgame quotes were available at publication.