Jason Robertson did not score Tuesday. Two of the goals that gave Dallas its win still have his name attached to them.
That is a useful place to begin an account of Mikko Rantanen’s hat trick in the Stars’ 3-2 overtime victory over Boston. Robertson helped create the first equalizer and earned another assist on the winning power-play goal at American Airlines Center. Those assists came on either side of another Boston lead and a further Dallas equalizer.
One player supplied all three finishes. Dallas needed other players to make those finishes available.
Robertson’s first contribution was particularly concrete. His poke attempt produced a rebound, and Rantanen finished the loose puck with the second period’s clock showing 2:50. Dallas had trailed since Matthew Poitras scored early in the first. The rebound gave the Stars an opening inside a game Boston was making difficult to enter cleanly.
The value of that action is easy to miss when an assist is treated as a routine connecting pass. Robertson did not simply deliver the puck to a shooter waiting in an obvious scoring position. His attempt became a second opportunity. The initial effort and the subsequent finish were different actions, and Dallas needed both to turn the possession into a goal.
That does not require upgrading every rebound into a carefully planned combination. Hockey provides loose pucks as well as designed sequences. The worthwhile point is practical: an attempt can remain useful after it fails to score. Robertson put the goalie to work, and Rantanen converted what followed. Against Boston’s resistance, that was valuable offense.
The Bruins blocked 22 attempts during the game. Dallas blocked 13. Those numbers do not tell us how dangerous every chance was, but they do describe how often Boston placed a body between an attempt and the net. Creating something from the next action mattered because the first action did not always reach Swayman, much less beat him.
Rantanen’s second equalizer followed another disrupted attempt, this time from Roope Hintz. Charlie McAvoy blocked the shot in the slot before the puck reached Rantanen around the right circle. Robertson was not credited with an assist on that goal. Hintz and Thomas Harley were. The distinction keeps the praise honest while reinforcing the broader point: the hat trick involved several contributors.
Robertson returned to the scoring sheet in overtime. Harley drew Pavel Zacha’s slashing penalty at 2:28, giving Dallas a four-on-three opportunity. Miro Heiskanen supplied the low feed to Rantanen, who carried toward the net and scored on his backhand at 3:52. Robertson earned the secondary assist.
