There were four opportunities for Boston to make Mikko Rantanen’s work insufficient. The Bruins converted none of them.
Dallas’ penalty kill deserves a place near the front of the account of Tuesday’s 3-2 overtime win at American Airlines Center. Rantanen scored every Stars goal, including the winner on a four-on-three advantage. Before that could happen, Dallas had to keep its own penalties from enlarging a deficit its offense was finding difficult enough already.
The first test arrived with Boston ahead. Matthew Poitras had scored early in the opening period, and Thomas Harley’s hooking minor at 8:58 offered the Bruins a chance to add another. Dallas got through it. That left the Stars needing one goal to recover the game rather than two, an unglamorous but substantial contribution to the comeback.
Later penalties created an especially awkward stretch around the second intermission. Miro Heiskanen went off for cross-checking at 13:17 of the second period. Rantanen followed with a goalie-interference minor at 18:39. Sam Steel then took a holding penalty 43 seconds into the third. These were separate decisions and separate assignments, with little comfort available from the score.
Boston was leading 2-1 as the final period began. An extra goal during either of those penalties spanning the intermission would have changed Dallas’ remaining task considerably. Instead, the Stars stayed close enough for Rantanen’s equalizer to matter. The penalty kill did not produce that goal. It preserved the conditions in which one goal could restore the tie.
That is why a four-for-four night means more than a pleasant percentage. The successful kills happened while Dallas was trying to recover leads Boston had established at even strength. Poitras scored in the first period; James Hagens put the Bruins ahead again in the second. Neither came on a power play. Dallas prevented the opponent from stacking an advantage on top of those goals.
There is a necessary limit to the praise. Killing penalties well does not make taking them a sensible habit. Every successful escape consumes an opportunity to play on more favorable terms.
Tuesday’s offense had little spare room: The final regulation period brought Dallas just two shots that reached Swayman. Boston’s full-game block count was 22. Asking the penalty killers to protect that situation repeatedly is an expensive way to stay competitive.
The distinction became clearer in overtime, when the roles reversed. Harley drew a slashing call against Pavel Zacha at 2:28. Dallas now had the numerical advantage and an opportunity to turn its earlier defensive work into something more than survival. Rantanen scored on the resulting advantage, carrying the puck toward the net before finishing backhanded. Heiskanen and Jason Robertson received the assists.
