PHILADELPHIA/ CHICAGO — Jamie Benn scored in the seventh round of the shootout to lift the Dallas Stars to a 3-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks.
Jason Robertson and Radek Faksa scored in regulation, and Matt Duchene also scored in the shootout for the Stars, who have points in eight straight games at home (6-0-2) and lead the Central Division by two points over Winnipeg.
Jake Oettinger made 21 saves through overtime and six in the shootout, including stopping Luke Kunin to end the game.
Tyson Foerster scored two goals in the span of 45 seconds, Felix Sandstrom made 24 saves in his season debut and the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Ottawa Senators 4-2.
Foerster broke a 1-1 deadlock with 47 seconds remaining in the second period, corralling a bouncing puck off a faceoff and fluttering a shot that went over the glove of Ottawa goalie Mads Sogaard.
“My head was down and the puck was rolling a bit,” Foerster said. “(Joel Farabee) picked their guy so I had a lane and I just shot it and it was lucky to go by him.”
Foerster then scored Philadelphia´s NHL-record fifth penalty shot goal of the season with two seconds remaining in the period.
“He made a great defensive play at their blue line,” Philadelphia coach John Tortorella said of the play Foerster made that led to the penalty shot.
“He´s done it all year long, (but) he´s had a good run here. I´ve been looking to him the whole time because he´s been getting chances, they just weren´t going in for him.”
Foerster has nine goals in his last nine games.
“It´s easy for a coach to look at a guy for scoring, but also know he´s probably one of your best defensive players too,” Tortorella said.
Vladimir Tarasenko and Thomas Chabot scored for Ottawa, which lost its fourth straight game.
“It´s that time of the year where there´s not going to be much room out there,” Chabot said.
“We made some mistakes, and they found the back of the net. Once again, we battled back and gave ourselves a chance. We hit a couple posts, so if one of them goes in, we have a tie game, and you never know what can happen. Still, it´s a frustrating way to lose.”
Sandstrom, who has spent the season with the Flyers´ AHL affiliate, was recalled on Friday to serve as the backup.
With the Flyers playing on back-to-back nights, he was thrust into action and was impressive, especially while the Flyers were short-handed.
He made several big saves to keep Ottawa off the board, including a sprawling glove save on Chabot in the final minute to prevent the Senators from tying the game.
“I want to be that guy,” Sandstrom said. “I want to be someone who can make a difference here. I´m ready for the challenge and I´m going to do everything I can to be a big positive for this group.”
Alexandre Texier opened the scoring in the first minute, Zach Werenski added a pair of assists, and the Columbus Blue Jackets beat Chicago Blackhawks 5-2.
The victory by the Eastern Conference´s worst team over the Western Conference´s worst team halted the Blue Jackets´ two-game losing streak, and dropped Chicago to 0-4-2 in its last six games.
Boone Jenner, Mathieu Olivier and Cole Sillinger scored and Johnny Gaudreau added an empty-netter for Columbus. Elvis Merzlikins stopped 26 shots and picked up his 12th win of the season.
“I don´t think there´s any pressure on us now,” Merzlikins said according to AP. “The last few games we´re playing against teams and not even looking at where they´re at in the standings, top or in the bottom.”
