Thomas Harley's first three-point night of the season lifts the Stars past San Jose

Thomas Harley spent the first period setting up teammates and the second finishing the job himself. The defenseman scored a power-play goal at 14:30 in the second, the first time this season he collected three points in a game, and the Dallas Stars held off San Jose 4-3 on Saturday at American Airlines Center.

Harley finished with a goal and two assists in 24:13 of ice time. ESPN's box lists two shots and matches that production. The Associated Press recap called it his first three-point outing of the year and noted that the slap shot was one of three extra-man scores for Dallas. Wyatt Johnston, with Mikko Rantanen, set up the go-ahead tally that made it 4-2.

The sequence started after Michael Misa opened the scoring for San Jose at 7:22 of the first period, assisted by Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith. Dallas answered on the power play at 9:16 when Roope Hintz snapped home his seventh goal of the season, with Johnston and Harley drawing the assists. Jamie Benn scored at 5-on-5 at 15:17, assisted by Hintz, to make it 2-1.

Jason Robertson then finished a power play at 16:51, his ninth goal, with assists from Rantanen and Harley, and the Stars took a 3-1 lead into the first intermission.

A lead that had to survive

Rookie Ivar Stenberg cut the deficit to 3-2 at 2:47 of the second, with assists from Celebrini and Eric Pohlkamp. Pohlkamp's helper was his first point in the NHL, coming in his third game, the AP said. Harley restored the two-goal cushion at 14:30.

Will Smith answered at 17:02 with a power-play goal, assisted by Mason Marchment and Celebrini. The AP described that tally as a two-man-advantage goal roughly two and a half minutes after Harley scored. ESPN's play-by-play lists it as a power-play snap shot.

The third period produced no goals.

Dallas went 3-for-5 on the power play. San Jose went 1-for-6. The AP wrote that Dallas' home penalty kill, which it called the league's best, killed five of six penalties Saturday and has given up two shorthanded goals all year on 34 times a man down, both on two-man advantages.

Jake Oettinger stopped 20 of 23 shots. Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 26 of 30 for San Jose.

Celebrini set up each of San Jose's three goals, his fourth three-point outing of the year, the AP reported. Johnston and Rantanen each finished with two assists for Dallas. Hintz scored once and added an assist. Benn's goal gave him 999 career points, all in 18 seasons with Dallas, according to the AP.

Form that traveled into a homestand

The Stars improved to 10-5-2 and have taken points in four straight games (3-0-1), the AP said. They have gone 10-0-1 versus San Jose since March 2024. The Sharks fell to 7-11-1 after losing both ends of a road back-to-back, including Friday at Minnesota, and have lost five in a row, each in regulation time, per the AP.

The AP also noted that San Jose's 1-0 lead was its first in nine games, and that the Sharks have conceded seven extra-man goals across their last three games.

Dallas outshot San Jose 30-23 and won 39 of 56 faceoffs (69.6 percent). The Stars are 9-0-0 this season when they score at least three goals, the AP reported. Saturday began a four-game homestand.

Attendance was 18,532. Dallas plays Winnipeg at home Thursday to continue the homestand. San Jose's next home opponent is the Islanders on Monday.

Sources

ESPN

ESPN

ESPN