Harley’s OT winner lifts Dallas past Winnipeg Jets 4-3

The last time the Winnipeg Jets played a game in Dallas, Thomas Harley scored the overtime winner to end their season in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Perhaps fittingly, on Groundhog Day, it was Harley who again played the OT hero as the Jets fell to the Stars 4-3 Monday night in Texas.

The Jets tied the game with the goalie pulled late in regulation, and only moments after Mark Scheifele was stopped on a breakaway in overtime, Harley scored the game-winner to force the Jets to settle for a single point.

“Anything can happen in overtime,” said Jets defenceman Logan Stanley who tied the game with only 1:43 left. “We got our best player on a breakaway and goalie makes a great save. They make a really nice play and win the game. So, it’s obviously frustrating. We’re happy we got a point, but obviously looking for two.”

Immediately after the game-winning goal was scored, Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck argued with the referee, believing the play should have been blown dead earlier.

“He got hit with a shot there, his mask was undone,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel. “And he was hollering and screaming while the play was going up and then that was it.”

Cole Perfetti and Gabriel Vilardi each had a goal and an assist for Winnipeg in the loss.

It was the Jets first trip back to Dallas since being eliminated in last spring’s Stanley Cup Playoffs and the Stars have now won all three meetings this season.

“Tough way to end it,” said Jets captain Adam Lowry. “But I liked how we stayed in it. We were able to get one (point). Obviously two (points) is super critical for us at this point. But to see them score, and us get one late to at least salvage a point, it’s at least a small positive for us.”

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The Jets have now lost their last eight straight games that have gone to overtime. They are just 1-6 in OT and have just a 2-8 record in games that have gone past regulation this season.

“That was a game that was winnable,” Arniel said. “Second period – we got up 2-1 and really we got sloppy with and without the puck, especially through the neutral zone. But at the end of the day, we hung in there and had a pretty good third period.

“You really hope to find a way to finish those off. We had Schife on a breakaway. Maybe that was the look we were hoping for.”

It was the fifth straight victory for the Stars who are now 23 points ahead of the Jets in the standings.

Neither team found the back of the net during a fairly entertaining first period in which both teams got eight shots on goal. Winnipeg had two power play chances that didn’t bear fruit while Dallas’ first look with a man advantage came with 21 seconds to go in the period.

That power play carried over into the second period and Dallas took advantage as Jason Robertson redirected a hard pass from Mikko Rantanen over the blocker of Hellebuyck to open the scoring 48 seconds into the period.

The Jets responded less than two minutes later. Perfetti collected the puck in the neutral zone to jumpstart an odd-man rush. He carried the puck before firing a low shot that caught a piece of the stick of Miro Heiskanen before bouncing off the pad of Jake Oettinger right into the slot. Trailing the play, Vilardi fired the rebound home to tie the game with his 21st of the season.

Winnipeg got a power play just over a minute later and made good on it. Off a faceoff win, Perfetti got the puck back to Josh Morrissey at the point. He passed it to Scheifele on the wall, who dropped it low to Vilardi before the Jets first goal scorer found Perfetti in the slot for a quick release goal, his sixth of the season, making it 2-1 at the 3:58 mark.

The Jets held the lead for a while, even surviving a Justin Hryckowian breakaway and a lengthy 5-on-3 but they couldn’t hold the Stars down forever as Dallas tied the game with 4:47 to go in the period.

Sam Steel crossed the blue line with the puck before sending it across to Jamie Benn on the right wing. The Stars’ captain dropped it over to Matt Duchene, whose shot was stopped by Hellebuyck but Nils Lundkvist got inside Dylan DeMelo in front of the net to knock home the rebound.

Both teams got nine shots on goal in the second period.

It stayed tied past the midway point of the third before Rantanen scored a doozy of a goal to give Dallas the lead.

Hryckowian corralled a puck in the neutral zone and left it for Rantanen to take into the Winnipeg end. He put a slick move on Luke Schenn, undressing the Jets blueliner before freezing Hellebuyck and tucking the puck around the goalie’s outstretched pad at the 12:17 mark of the third.

Winnipeg pulled Hellebuyck for an extra attacker with just under 2:30 left in the third. Kyle Connor nearly tied it when he hit the crossbar, but seconds later the Jets would find the equalizer.

Connor passed the puck behind the net to Scheifele in the opposite corner. He then fed Stanley for a one-timer that deflected off the stick of Rantanen and fluttered past a fooled Oettinger with 1:43 to go.

Dallas had control of the puck for much of the overtime session before Scheifele got sprung on a breakaway. He tried to beat Oettinger low on the blocker side but was denied by Oettinger’s left pad.

The Stars got the puck back and were able to make a line change while Scheifele’s group had to stay out at the end of a long shift. Duchene took the puck into the Winnipeg end and circled back, creating space for Harley to skate into. Duchene then passed the puck to an unguarded Harley, who used his skate to corral the puck before beating Hellebuyck on the backhand to end the game.

The Jets will play their final game before the Olympic break Wednesday at home against Montreal. It’s an earlier-than-usual start time with the puck dropping a little after 6 p.m. Pregame coverage on 680 CJOB begins at 4 p.m.

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