Jason Robertson recorded a natural hat trick over the first 5:43 of the second period and the visiting Dallas Stars held on for a 6-5 win over the Washington Capitals on Tuesday.
It was the seventh career regular-season hat trick for Robertson, who posted those three goals on four shots for a 4-0 Dallas lead, then later added an assist.
Roope Hintz had a goal and two assists while Joel Kiviranta and Mikko Rantanen also scored for the Stars, who are 4-1-1 on the road. Wyatt Johnston and Thomas Harley each recorded two assists, and Jake Oettinger made 20 saves.
Jordan Kyrou had a goal and two assists and Jakob Chychrun and Ryan Leonard notched one of each for Washington, which dropped back-to-back home games for the first time despite late-third-period goals from Justin Sourdif and Leonard to make it a one-goal contest.
Washington’s Boone Jenner also scored, and Dylan Strome had two assists.
The Capitals’ Logan Thompson was pulled in the second period after allowing four goals on 11 shots. Charlie Lindgren came on to stop nine of the 11 shots he faced.
Dallas opened the scoring on its first official shot on goal. With 11:04 remaining in the first period, Kiviranta backhanded home the puck off a rebound.
Just 23 seconds into the second period, and on a power play, Robertson broke in and beat Thompson to the short side. Less than three minutes later, Robertson deked Chychrun along the boards, then lasered the puck into the top right corner of the net.
With 14:17 remaining in the middle frame, Robertson completed his hat trick by ringing the post and ending Thompson’s night.
Washington finally scored with 9:00 to go in the second. On a power play, Cole Hutson’s point shot deflected off net-front teammate Strome, then onto the stick of Kyrou to push past Oettinger, making it 4-1.
The Stars got that goal back with 5:10 to go in the middle period. Rantanen drove the puck through traffic and his attempt was twice deflected along the way before going in over Lindgren.
Washington made it 5-2 as Jenner converted between Oettinger’s legs with 3:02 remaining in the second. With 30 seconds left before the second intermission, Chychrun one-timed the puck past a late-reacting Oettinger on a power play.
Dallas extended its advantage 1:23 into the third period via Hintz’s successful backhander that bounced past Lindgren.
The Stars have won nine of 10 meetings with the Capitals.