Thirty-eight shots should give a team a useful supply of chances. It does not entitle that team to a comfortable score. Dallas doubled Winnipeg’s total Thursday and still reached the last two minutes of regulation trailing 2-1, with Stuart Skinner refusing to let the larger workload decide the result on its own.
Dallas eventually beat the Jets 3-2 in overtime at American Airlines Center, earning its fourth consecutive victory. Roope Hintz scored at 18:00 of the third period to tie the game and again 3:47 into overtime to win it. The result belonged to Dallas, but the route there was narrower than a 38-19 shot count might suggest.
Skinner deserves credit before Dallas receives criticism for taking so long to solve him. The Winnipeg goaltender faced 12 shots in the first period, 14 in the second and 11 in the third. Dallas added one in overtime.
The work arrived steadily, and Skinner kept the Jets in front through the middle of the game even as the Stars continued to own the larger share of attempts.
The count itself cannot describe the exact challenge of every shot. It tells us Dallas was directing pucks toward the net far more often; it does not identify the location, traffic or difficulty attached to each attempt. So the sensible reading is neither that Skinner performed a miracle nor that the Stars were harmless.
His 35 saves mattered, while Dallas’ territorial edge still gave it reason to stay patient.
The second period supplied the clearest warning against turning that edge into a conclusion. Wyatt Johnston opened the scoring at 1:17 with six Dallas skaters on the ice during a delayed Winnipeg penalty. The Stars had the extra attacker, but the goal was not a formal power-play score. Winnipeg answered with Gabriel Vilardi at 10:50 and Kyle Connor at 12:38, a pair separated by 1:48.
That period captures how a team can have more work for the opposing goalie and less reward on the scoreboard. Dallas produced fourteen shots to Winnipeg’s eight, yet the Jets scored twice while the Stars scored once. Finishing efficiently in a short span can outweigh a much longer stretch of asking the other goalie to make another save.
Winnipeg made its opportunities count without needing to win the shot-count argument.
Dallas’ answer arrived late. Hintz scored with two minutes remaining in regulation, then won it 3:47 into overtime. Those were two successful finishes against a goalie who had denied far more attempts than he allowed past him. The comeback required Dallas to keep creating opportunities, but also to complete particular opportunities when their value was greatest.
There is an understandable temptation to call every prolonged stretch without a goal wasteful. It is an incomplete evaluation here. Skinner had already stopped a dozen shots before the second period began.
