by Mark Stepneski of Andrew's Stars Page

Stars narrowly escape another epic collapse, win in overtime.

DALLAS — Things were a little tense for the Dallas Stars Saturday night. They blew a two-goal lead late in the game and then had two kill off a power play in the final two minutes to keep the game tied, but when all was said and done they got the win. Tom Wandell's goal 2:12 into overtime gave the Stars a 4-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning at American Airlines Center.

Wandell took a pass from Loui Eriksson and beat Lightning goalie Mike Smith with a shot from the bottom of the right faceoff circle for this fourth goal of the season and his first career overtime winner.

"Loui's a smart player and you have to be ready for anything," said Wandell. "I got it and it wasn't a very good shot, but it went in."

The Stars improved to 12-7-7 on the season and ran their points streak at home to four games (3-0-1).

"Getting it into overtime, I think our guys breathed a big sigh of relief," said Stars head coach Marc Crawford. "I liked our chances in overtime. I thought we did a pretty good job all night. We drew a lot of penalties."

And they converted those penalties into the power play goals. After Tampa's Paul Szczechura gave Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead 6:18 into the second period, the Stars rattled off three power play goals to build a 3-1 lead. Two of them came in a span of 1:11 in the final five minutes of the second when the Lightning took three straight penalties.

The key infraction was a delay of game penalty on Lightning goalie Smith for throwing the puck over the glass that put Dallas on a 1:04 five-on-three power play. The Stars cashed in on that one when Stephane Robidas scored from the right circle to tie the game at the 15:06 mark.

With the Stars still on a five-on-four, Tampa Bay took another penalty, giving the Stars another five-on-three. And just as that one expired, Jere Lehtinen scored from close range to give the Stars a 2-1 lead at 15:53 of the second period.

"It kills you, especially with the firepower they have," Smith said. "You give those guys chances like we did tonight, they're going to capitalize."

Stars captain Brenden Morrow scored on the power play early in the third to make it a 3-1 Dallas lead. But the Stars missed on a 3:49 power play later in the period and Tampa Bay struck for two goals 47 seconds apart in the final five minutes of regulation to tie the game.

Steve Stamkos scored on the power play with a perfectly placed shot from the right circle and Jeff Halpern beat Stars goalie Alex Auld with a backhand shot from a sharp angle to tie it.

"We had a four-minute power play, and we want to try to put our foot down and have a killer instinct, right through our team, and figure out a way to make it 4-1," said Stars center Brad Richards, who had two assists on the night. "It seemed like we just kind of let our foot off and let them back in the game."

Tampa got a power play late in the final two minutes, but couldn't covert and ended up having to settle for the one point in the game.

"From being down 3-1 and [giving them] two 5-on-3s, and the way the guys battled, we're glad to come out with a point," Lightning head coach Rick Tocchet said.

The Stars, now 12-7-7 on the season, have Sunday off. They play at Detroit Monday evening.

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