Stars blank Rangers; sew up first-round playoff home ice edge

Jason Robertson scored a power-play goal with 7:11 left in regulation for the Dallas Stars, who earned a 2-0 victory in over the New York Rangers Saturday.

Robertson added an empty-netter with 59 seconds left to tie Wyatt Johnston for the team lead with 44 goals. Matt Duchene assisted on both, while Johnston and Mavrik Bourque also finished with assists.

Jake Oettinger posted his fourth shutout of the season, and second in his last four starts, making 22 saves as he won his fourth consecutive game for Dallas (48-20-12, 108 points).

Igor Shesterkin kept the Rangers (33-38-9, 75 points) in the contest, stopping 17 of the 18 shots he faced, but he dropped the decision for the third time in his last four starts.

The win, coupled with a loss Saturday by the Minnesota Wild against the Nashville Predators, cemented home-ice advantage for Dallas against the Wild when the two teams face off in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

For the second time in a week, the Stars played a scoreless game through two periods at home (Colorado beat Dallas 2-0 last Saturday). This time, Robertson would ensure the home team earned a win in its final regular-season game in front of the home crowd.

With New York's Matthew Robertson off for holding, Shesterkin blocked Duchene's shot from the high slot, but the puck went to Jason Robertson. He gathered the puck and waited, flipping a backhanded shot over the Rangers goalie for the first goal of the game.

For most of the first two periods, the game was a rather pedestrian affair between a team headed to the playoffs and another already eliminated from the postseason.

However, Dallas' Jamie Benn went off for boarding Vladislav Gavrikov with 1:43 left in the second period, and a Colin Blackwell high-sticking penalty on Vincent Trocheck 36 seconds later gave the Rangers a two-man advantage. The Rangers failed to capitalize as Trocheck was called for a double-minor high-sticking with nine seconds left when Tyler Myers skated off bloodied.

That last penalty would give the Stars a nearly three-minute power play early in the third, but that, too, would go scoreless.