Stars Put Their Foot Down at Home
Robertson and Benn drive the finish while Rantanen and Heiskanen join in; Sharks find iron but not daylight
Stars turned a bumpy start into an authoritative one-game statement: they dominated possession and danger, finished chances, and left no doubt in a 5-0 win over San Jose.
Dallas had the better looks all night and cashed them. The chances they created were worth more than three and a half expected goals (3.74 to 1.51), and the scoreboard followed. Jason Robertson and Jamie Benn each paired a goal with an assist and four shots, Mikko Rantanen and Miro Heiskanen added finishes of their own, and the home side nearly doubled San Jose in shots, 26 to 13.
On the other end, Jake Oettinger didn’t just pitch a shutout — he erased more than a goal and a half above expectation (goals saved above expected +1.51) while stopping every shot he saw. The Sharks weren’t completely snakebit: they hit iron four times — Kiefer Sherwood, Tyler Toffoli, and Will Smith had three of them, with Dallas’s Thomas Harley clipping another — but they generated too little to threaten.
Takeaway: Dallas turned quality into goals across the lineup and got clean goaltending. San Jose had a few tough bounces, but their push was limited against this level of chance creation.
