Jason Robertson Hat Trick Lifts Stars Past Capitals 6-5

Jason Robertson scored a natural hat trick in just 5 minutes, 20 seconds early in the second period, and the Dallas Stars held on to beat the Washington Capitals 6-5 Tuesday night at Capital One Arena. It was the third-fastest natural hat trick in Stars history.

The win keeps Dallas rolling on the road. The Stars have picked up points in five straight road games and improve to 9-5-1, while Washington drops its second straight game at home and falls to 8-6-0.

Robertson's Five-Minute Takeover

Robertson didn't waste any time after the first intermission. His first goal came just 23 seconds into the second period on the power play, when he skated into the left faceoff circle with nobody on him and beat Logan Thompson to the near glove side.

The second one was even prettier. He took a drop pass from Arttu Hyry, cut back to dodge a Jakob Chychrun hit along the right boards and fired it between Thompson and the far post. Then he finished it with a snap shot from the point through traffic to make it 4-0, and that was the end of Thompson's night with 14:17 left in the second.

That's goals six, seven and eight on the season for Robertson. Mikko Rantanen scored later in the period to tie him for the team lead, so Dallas has two guys pushing each other at the top of the scoring list. That's not a bad problem to have.

The Capitals Didn't Go Away

A 4-0 lead should've been a cruise. It wasn't. Washington scored twice on the Dallas penalty kill and pulled within 5-3 by the end of the second, then Justin Sourdif made it 6-4 with 7:05 left in the third.

Ryan Leonard got the Caps within one with a six-on-five goal with 1:02 to go, and suddenly the Stars were hanging on. Jake Oettinger made 20 saves and the Stars survived. Roope Hintz had a goal and an assist, and Joel Kiviranta opened the scoring midway through the first.

For Washington, Jordan Kyrou had a goal and two assists, and Dylan Strome picked up his team-leading 10th and 11th assists. Boone Jenner and Chychrun also scored. The Caps outscored Dallas 5-2 after falling behind 4-0, which says plenty about their fight and also plenty about the hole they dug.

What's Next

The Stars visit the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night, and Columbus is coming off a 7-2 win over Colorado, so that one won't be easy. Washington wraps up a three-game homestand Saturday against Florida.

If you're a Stars fan, you'll take the two points and not think too hard about the third period. Robertson looks locked in, and when he's scoring like this, Dallas is tough to beat.

Smacktok pick lean: Lean higher on Robertson's shots on goal Thursday at Columbus. He's got eight goals already and a power-play role that put him in prime spots all night.