Mikko Rantanen scored in his first game in nearly two months, and the Dallas Stars tallied three unanswered second-period goals to end a four-game skid and defeat the host Pittsburgh Penguins 6-3 on Saturday.

Rantanen and Jason Robertson each had a goal and an assist for Dallas (44-18-11, 99 points), which had gone 0-3-1 in its last four games. The Stars trailed 1-0 and 2-1 in this contest before exploding for three goals, two on the power play, in the second.

Rookie Justin Hryckowian, Lian Bichsel and Mavrik Bourque also scored for the Stars, who swept the two-game season series with Pittsburgh after winning in Dallas in December.

Erik Karlsson had a goal and two assists for Pittsburgh (36-21-16, 88 points), which was playing without both Evgeni Malkin and captain Sidney Crosby due to lower-body injuries.

Anthony Mantha and Noel Acciari also scored for Pittsburgh, which lost its third game at PPG Paints Arena in the past week. The Penguins were outscored 17-6 in those three home contests.

Mantha redirected a Karlsson slapshot to put Pittsburgh in front on a power-play goal just over two minutes into the game.

Hryckowian evened the score for Dallas early in the second period, capitalizing on a broken play that left him wide open in front of the net with the puck.

Karlsson answered for the Penguins 48 seconds later with a wrister for his 13th goal of the season. In the process, he broke two franchise records for defensemen.

The goal was his ninth in March, the most in a single month by a Penguins blueliner. This also was his ninth multi-point game in March, which broke Randy Carlyle’s mark, set in December 1980, for most multi-point games in a single month by a defenseman.

The Stars responded over the next few minutes. Robertson scored on the power play 7:12 into the period to even the game. It was Robertson’s 40th goal, tying him with Wyatt Johnston for the team lead.

Three minutes later, Rantanen, who had missed 15 games in a row with a lower-body injury, tallied his 21st of the season on another power-play opportunity.

Bichsel doubled the Stars’ advantage less than 90 seconds later on a strange sequence. He went behind the goal, stapled to Karlsson, proceeded to throw the Swede’s stick to the floor with no whistle, and then scored what turned out to be the game-winner.

Jake Oettinger improved to 7-1-0 in his career against Pittsburgh. He allowed three goals on only 12 shots, as Pittsburgh posted four, five and three shots over the three periods. Stuart Skinner made 20 stops for the Penguins.

Dallas, which entered with the fourth-best road record in the league, improved to 22-8-7 away from home.

–Field Level Media

After posting much-needed victories on Saturday, the Dallas Stars and Flyers will be back on the ice Sunday night in Philadelphia.

Dallas (44-18-11, 99 points) is playoff-bound but was mired in a four-game losing streak heading into Saturday’s game with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Fortunately, the Stars received a big lift from the return of Mikko Rantanen, who had a goal and an assist in a 6-3 victory.

Rantanen had not played since Feb. 20, when he sustained a lower-body injury during the Olympics while playing for Team Finland. His most NHL game had been on Feb. 4.

“A little rusty, obviously,” Rantanen said. “It’s a lot different than practicing, you know? You can do a lot of things in practice, but games are a little different. Sometimes you think it’s faster than it is. … But overall, the body felt good.”

Jason Robertson chipped in with a goal and an assist for Dallas, giving him 40 goals for the third time in his career. Mavrik Bourque contributed two empty-net goals and an assist for the Stars.

“Not forcing it was a big thing,” Robertson said. “And, I mean, having a lot of talent out there helps.”

Philadelphia (36-24-12, 84 points) scored the first four goals Saturday against the Detroit Red Wings before holding on for a 5-3 victory. Owen Tippett recorded a hat trick and added an assist on Sean Couturier’s game-clinching, empty-net goal.

“He’s dragging a lot of us in the fight,” Philadelphia coach Rick Tocchet said of Tippett. “When he gets that puck, he’s as good as it gets right now in the league.”

The Flyers improved to 11-3-1 in their last 15 games but will continue to need victories as they trail three teams in the race for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.

“It’s a big win for us,” Tocchet said. “I think a couple of teams (Columbus Blue Jackets and Ottawa Senators) lost today. We’ve got a huge game (Sunday).”

The Flyers certainly will need to play better down the stretch Sunday than they did on Saturday. The team led Detroit with under 6 1/2 minutes remaining in the third period before surrendering three quick goals.

“I loved our game for 55 minutes,” Tocchet said.

Of course, it helps to have Dan Vladar in net when it matters most. The Flyers’ goaltender has allowed more than three goals in just one of his last 16 starts, although he likely will watch Sunday while Samuel Ersson gets the nod at goalie.

The Stars, meanwhile, probably will turn to Casey DeSmith after Jake Oettinger started on Saturday.

This will be the second meeting between the teams this season. The Stars cruised to a 5-1 win in Dallas on Nov. 15 as Robertson recorded his sixth career hat trick, one of which has come in the playoffs.

The Stars have won five of the last six matchups vs. Philadelphia, although the Flyers enter Sunday’s game playing about as well as it has all season.

“Dallas is a good hockey team,” Tocchet said. “We’ll be ready.”

–Field Level Media

Duke point guard Caleb Foster is expected to play again in Sunday’s Elite Eight game of the NCAA Tournament against UConn after he returned from a foot fracture on Friday.

Foster came off the bench and recorded 11 points and two assists in an 80-75 Round of 16 game against St. John’s. That contest was three weeks after his foot injury that occurred in the regular-season finale against North Carolina on March 7.

Foster underwent a surgical procedure on the injury to expedite recovery.

After missing the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament, Foster also missed the first two NCAA Tournament games of the East Regional for the No. 1-seed Blue Devils (35-2).

Foster, who started 30 of his 32 games, is averaging 8.5 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists. He is shooting 39 of 98 (39.8%) from 3-point range.

–Field Level Media