DALLAS (AP) — Miro Heiskanen found out Wednesday morning he had made the All-Star team in his first season in the NHL.
He celebrated with two goals, including a tiebreaking score in the third period of the Dallas Stars’ 5-4 victory over the New Jersey Devils.
Heiskanen and Tyler Seguin each scored twice after Jamie Benn tied it at 1 in the first period. Heiskanen, a 19-year-old defenseman, has nine goals this season.
For Wednesday night’s game-winner, Roope Hintz won a faceoff and on a designed play got the puck to Heiskanen, who skated to the crease and beat Mackenzie Blackwood 6:27 into the final period.
“There was a little time for me,” Heiskanen said. “I just go there and shoot, and it went in.”
Seguin and Benn have been under scrutiny since Stars CEO Jim Lites recently ripped the high-priced forwards for “terrible play.” Seguin ended a five-game goal drought that dated almost two weeks.
“There’s been so much talk about the results as of late,” Seguin said, “but I know when I’m playing well, I’m thinking about the process and not thinking of results.”
Benn scored in his second straight game but didn’t play for most of the final two periods because of an upper-body injury.
“We wanted this one for him,” Seguin said. “He has had a long couple days so we hope the best for him and obviously we rallied around him.”
Kyle Palmieri, Jesper Bratt, Drew Stafford and Brian Boyle scored for New Jersey, which twice trailed by two goals before sending the game into the third period tied at 4.
Blackwood made 35 saves. The rookie posted shutouts in his previous two games.
“I did some good things, and I did some bad things,” Blackwood said. “Definitely a learning experience.”
Dallas goaltender Ben Bishop finished with 30 saves, including 20 in the third period after making only one stop in the first. New Jersey had no shots on goal for a total of 23:42 spanning the first and second periods.
The Stars’ Alexander Radulov had three assists, and John Klingberg had two.
Heiskanen, who had five shots on goal in the first period, was rewarded when he scored 3:21 into the second while the teams were skating 4-on-4.
Heiskanen finished his second two-goal game with a game-high nine shots on goal and three blocked shots. He helped preserve the win by sweeping the puck away from the goal line late in the third.
“Probably his most dominant game as far as puck possession,” Stars coach Jim Montgomery said. “I don’t know what to say about him anymore. I’m just glad I get the opportunity to coach him.”
Two players from each team were in the penalty box after an altercation at 2:05 of the second. New Jersey’s Miles Wood received a major penalty for interference that knocked Benn from the game.
“It’s a blind-side hit,” Montgomery said. “It’s one of those hits that we’re trying to get out of the game. Looked like a shoulder hit him in the chest.”
Wood was still in the box when Seguin scored a power-play goal from the left circle at 6:38.
The Devils pulled within a goal during an eight-second flurry when Nico Hischier stole the puck for a breakaway, had two shots stopped by Bishop, retrieved both rebounds and passed to Bratt at the top of the slot at 11:08.
After Seguin’s second goal, New Jersey rallied to tie with goals by Stafford at 17:21 and Boyle at 18:48 of the second.
NOTES: Heiskanen was selected by Dallas with the No. 3 pick in the 2017 draft. “When I was younger, I looked at those All-Star Games,” he said. “Now that I can go there it feels great.” . Palmieri has scored at least 20 goals in four straight seasons. … LW Taylor Hall, currently on injured reserve with a lower-body injury, is New Jersey’s All-Star. … Montgomery said Benn and D Julius Honka, who also left with an upper-body injury, were held out for precautionary reasons.
UP NEXT
Devils: Play the second game of a four-game trip at Arizona on Friday.
Stars: Finish a four-game homestand on Friday against Washington.