DALLAS — The Rangers may have been short on puck luck in recent games, but some unlikely heroes changed their karma on Saturday afternoon. 

Defenseman Zac Jones and recent call-up Julien Gauthier scored 19 seconds apart to jump-start a three-goal third period and propel the Rangers to a 6-3 win over the Stars at American Airlines Center. 

The victory snapped a four-game losing skid for the Rangers, who also handed the Central Division-leading Stars their first loss at home this season. 

“We were in a little bit of a slide there,” said Vincent Trocheck, who had two goals and an assist for his first multi-goal game with the Rangers. “Anytime you go into a little bit of a rut, it hurts your confidence a little bit. To come in here and get a win and see our team score six, it definitely boosts your confidence.” 

The back-and-forth, high-scoring contest grew more physical as time ticked by. The Rangers and Stars traded off goals through the first two periods. After Dallas struck first in the opening frame, the Rangers answered. And when the Rangers kept grabbing the lead in the second period, the Stars responded each time, as well. 

With the score tied at three-all more than halfway through the third period, however, a trailing Jones wristed one past Dallas goalie Scott Wedgewood from between the top of the circles for his first career NHL goal. And in a sequence that felt as if it occurred immediately after that, Gauthier beat Wedgewood in a race to the puck and buried it on a wide-open net while falling to the ice in the ultimate hustle play. 

Asked if entering the day goalless through the first 27 games of his NHL career was in the back of his mind, Jones (who has been battling Libor Hajek for that left spot on the third pair this season) smirked. 

“C’mon,” he said with a laugh. “It’s not that big a deal, but it’s obviously always in the back of my mind. Just once you get that first one out of the way then the ball starts to roll.” 

Both teams lost a player in the second period due to injury. Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger first retreated to the home locker room with a lower-body injury. He was replaced by Wedgewood, who ultimately finished with 12 saves. Shortly after that, Vitali Kravtsov crashed into the boards while in pursuit of the puck and had to be helped off the ice to the Rangers locker room. 

While their luck regarding injuries has been in short supply, the Rangers did catch a break early in the third period. Jason Robertson seemed to have given Dallas a 4-3 lead with his second goal of the game off a giveaway from the Adam Fox-Ryan Lindgren pair. The Rangers challenged for offside, however, and the goal was overturned. 

“You kind of look at that as an opportunity,” Trocheck said. “That was like our break kind of. That would’ve put them up, so you take that and then try to turn that into momentum for you.” 

Rangers coach Gerard Gallant then opted to break up the third defense pair, which is something he doesn’t usually do, unless in response to an injury. Gallant said he wanted to balance out the defensive core and it was probably just for this game. 

Stars wing Ty Dellandrea got the Rangers fired up at the end of the opening period after he skated too far into the crease and clipped Shesterkin. That knocked the star goalie’s skates out from underneath him and prompted a trainer to come out to look at him. The Rangers, led by Artemi Panarin, went after Dellandrea and a scrum ensued. 

“This team plays very well at home and we were tied going into the third period,” Jones said. “So we got a great goalie back there, a great team up front, we knew that it was going to come at some point.”