His game-winning goal in overtime was upheld following a review for goaltender interference, a tally that lifted the Stars to a badly-needed 4-3 overtime win over the Canadiens — and Klingberg could call it a night.
After the call, Denis Gurianov clung onto Klingberg’s shoulder. Tyler Seguin grabbed on. Jamie Benn tapped foreheads with Klingberg before he disappeared down the tunnel towards the Stars dressing room.
The goal capped an excellent night for Klingberg, who tied the game with 4:46 left in the third period, before winning it with just 9.7 seconds left in overtime. He led all skaters with 29:06 of ice time and became the franchise leader in most game-winning goals by a defenseman by scoring his 21st winner.
“He was amazing,” Stars forward Radek Faksa said. “He’s confident with the puck. He’s making plays. He doesn’t throw the puck away. He basically decided the game for us today.”
The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Stars, and saved them from getting swept by the lowly Canadiens.
Stars captain Jamie Benn scored shortly after a second-period power play expired, and Faksa snapped a 40-game goal drought with a first-period goal to complement Klingberg. Jake Oettinger made 28 saves — including nine in a frenetic first period — to earn his 20th win of the season.
“We’ve been up and down all year,” Klingberg said. “To get a comeback like this was huge for the team and it shows that we’re sticking with it.”
The Stars carried a 2-1 lead into the third period before Montreal scored twice in less than four minutes. Dallas seemed destined for a fourth straight loss, this one to the league-worst Canadiens. It would have brought back March slides from recent seasons, and led the Stars into the weekend back-to-back needing to generate some sort of result.
Then Klingberg stepped up.
With less than five minutes to go, Klingberg exited the Stars zone and led in transition. He received a drop pass from Benn in the slot, corralled it with his skate and whirled a short-side wrist shot past Jake Allen. Klingberg pumped his fist and chest-bumped the Bell Centre boards.
“That was just a huge goal for the team, so that felt really good skating back to the bench,” Klingberg said.
Klingberg had a chance to help the Stars win the game with a late-game power play that bled into 41 seconds of overtime. But Dallas was unable to capitalize. Klingberg then took a hooking call that gave Montreal two minutes of a 4-on-3 power play. The Stars emerged unscathed.
With 20.6 seconds left in overtime, Tyler Seguin won an offensive-zone faceoff and shuffled the puck to Klingberg at the blue line. Klingberg eventually fired a shot from the right dot and followed up on the luscious rebound Allen spit back out. With Seguin at the net-front, Klingberg poked the puck home.
The play was reviewed by the NHL’s Situation Room for goaltender interference on Seguin, but the league ruled that Seguin “was making a play on the loose puck in the crease.”
“Honestly, you never know,” Klingberg said.
Klingberg’s night came at a time when the Stars really need someone like him to step up.
Miro Heiskanen missed his sixth straight game due to mononucleosis, and isn’t on the road trip with the Stars. Without Heiskanen, the Stars are down a big piece on their back end, a do-it-all force that leaves lost offense and messy breakouts when he’s not on the ice.
Heiskanen’s absence has forced some players into roles they’ve never held (like Jani Hakanpää and Thomas Harley). But it’s also left Klingberg as the biggest difference maker on the back end.
“I try to play the same way every night,” Klingberg said. “With a player out of that caliber, you have to step up a little bit more. That’s from the whole D corps. I think we’ve done a good job most of the time. There’s some hiccups today from the D and from myself especially, too, we’re not happy with. Obviously, it’s just a great finish to get out with two points and win a game like that.”
The Stars have also desperately needed secondary scoring to help out Jason Robertson, Roope Hintz and Joe Pavelski. On a night when none of those three players scored, the Stars still won.
The Stars are now 4-6-1 in games that Robertson, Hintz and Pavelski fail to score (with all three in the lineup). They have not won a game in regulation when they don’t get at least one goal from their top line.
Klingberg has shouldered that load at various times throughout his Stars career, one that Benn has been there every step of the way.
“It’s been a lot of fun,” Benn said. “Been through a lot together. I still remember his first game with us: a skinny little kid with a big helmet toe-dragging the puck, scoring goals. It’s been a lot of fun to play with him.
“Obviously, a heck of a player. Great person, great leader on this team. Very important as well.”
Faksa snaps streak: For the first time since Nov. 13, Faksa scored a goal, when he directed a Michael Raffl backhand pass behind Allen. Faksa had not scored in the previous 40 games, and it was his first 5-on-5 goal of the season.
So how did it feel to score again?
“I was waiting for that question,” Faksa said. “Obviously, it felt great. I had lots of chances before. When you don’t score for so long and you get the chance, you’re not comfortable with it. That’s what I had. I had a long series without a goal and I wasn’t comfortable when I had some chance. Hopefully, will turn it around, I will execute now and score more goals and help the team to get to the playoffs.”
Faksa now has three goals this season. His career-low is five goals, when he played 45 games as a 22-year-old rookie in 2015-16.
