The Florida Panthers, trailing by two goals with less than seven minutes left, got three straight scores to defeat the visiting Dallas Stars, 3-2, on Thursday night at Sunrise, Fla.

Stars rookie goalie Jake Oettinger, in just his seventh NHL game, appeared poised to record his first career shutout. But the Panthers scored three goals in a span of 2:49.

The goals came from Aleksander Barkov, Anton Stralman and Frank Vatrano, in that order. Vatrano got the game-winner with 3:10 left.

Sergei Bobrovsky made 37 saves to earn the win.

Oettinger finished with 32 saves.

Dallas got goals from Joe Pavelski, his team-high 10th of the season, and Jamie Benn.

The game was stopped for nine minutes with 12:17 left in the third. Following a big hit by Stralman on Jason Dickinson, the boards were repaired. The Panthers seemed to gain momentum after that delay.

Florida was without two injured defensemen, Gustav Forsling and Radko Gudas. Noah Juulsen and Kevin Connauton replaced them and combined to be a plus-one in more than 31 minutes of ice time.

Dallas opened the scoring on Pavelski's power-play goal with 2:10 expired in the second period. After Bobrovsky blocked Justin Dowling's shot, Pavelski cleaned up with a rebound on the weak side, shooting into a wide-open net. The power play was set up when Alex Wennberg was called for tripping Pavelski.

The Stars took a 2-0 lead with 17:49 left in the second. Off a draw, John Klingberg fired a shot from the high slot, and Benn got the goal with a deflection. Dallas' Radek Faksa was also in front of the net to provide a screen.

Florida got on the board with 6:21 left in the third. Carter Verhaeghe tipped a MacKenzie Weegar shot that got through Oettinger's pads but not in the net. Barkov, though, skated in and tapped in the puck.

The Panthers needed just 52 seconds to tie the score 2-2 on Stralman's shot, with the help of Vatrano's screen.

Vatrano's game-winner, on a high shot from the slot, came off an assist from Wennberg.

--Field Level Media