At 16:45 of the second period Thursday, Jason Robertson came in alone with the game still scoreless. Cam Talbot met the Dallas winger’s breakaway with his left pad, preserving the kind of deadlock that can make a later box score look more damning than the performance deserves.
The Dallas Stars eventually lost 2-1 to the Columbus Blue Jackets in a shootout at Nationwide Arena. Robertson finished without a goal after his three-goal performance in Tuesday’s 6-5 victory at Washington, but the simplest explanation—he failed to repeat himself—misses the more important part of this game. Talbot stopped all three of Robertson’s shots, including the chance that arrived before either team had scored.
Tuesday’s hat trick remains a major offensive contribution. It cannot serve as a compulsory appointment with the scoresheet every time Robertson dresses. On Thursday he put three shots on goal, and all were saved. Evaluating those attempts requires room for the man stopping them, especially when one was a breakaway in a scoreless game.
His best work came in a short stretch of the second period. At 9:16, Talbot made a scrambling glove save on Esa Lindell’s wrist shot near the right post. Seven minutes and 29 seconds later, he stopped Robertson’s breakaway with the left pad.
Those were separate Dallas threats, involving two different shooters and two different kinds of saves. The common factor was a goalie who kept finding an answer.
Robertson’s night was not empty of responsibility. He played 20:30, took three shots and was charged with three giveaways. Those giveaways belong in the account, especially in a game still tied after overtime. They do not, however, turn every stopped attempt into evidence of poor finishing. A scorer can have a strong game and still run into a goaltender who handles each of his chances.
Dallas did create enough to take the lead. The Stars put 12 shots on Talbot in the second period and finished with 28, while their best scoring sequence came early in the third. Wyatt Johnston capitalized on an Ivan Provorov turnover and got a shot away.
Talbot stopped it, but Mikko Rantanen gathered the rebound beside the net and held the puck until the short side opened before scoring at 6:27 of the period.
That was Rantanen’s ninth goal and his third consecutive game with one. Johnston earned the assist, and the play gave Dallas a 1-0 lead. It also showed why blaming Robertson for the final result would be too tidy: the Stars had Johnston and Rantanen produce the breakthrough, yet one goal still left almost no room for a reply.
Columbus found that reply with 3:14 remaining in regulation. Zach Werenski entered from the left circle and sent a backhand over Casey DeSmith’s left pad. DeSmith stopped 29 of 30 shots over 65:00, so Dallas did not lose because its goaltender unraveled. The Stars received strong work from both creases and still could not build a second-goal margin.
The game then went through a scoreless overtime before Columbus won the shootout 2-0. Charlie Coyle and Robertson had unsuccessful attempts, Valeri Nichushkin converted for Columbus, Tyler Seguin did not convert for Dallas, and Kent Johnson finished the tiebreaker for the Blue Jackets. Dallas earned one standings point, but the shootout did not change the central evaluation of Robertson’s night.
