DALLAS - Dallas Stars interim coach Rick Bowness had just seen a very similar comeback by his team, though the surroundings for this one were drastically different.
While pigs raced during timeouts next to the outdoor rink - built in the middle of a historic football stadium and framed to appear as if it was under an oversized ranch entry - the Stars scored four goals in a span of just less than eight minutes in a 4-2 win Wednesday over the Nashville Predators in an NHL Winter Classic that felt like a state fair.
Well, it was played at the site of the annual State Fair of Texas, with the rides and games on the midway open just outside Cotton Bowl Stadium, known for hosting big football games.
"Let's look at it from two sets of eyes," Bowness said. "From a coaching perspective, we won the game. We battled back. We survived those early penalties, and the guys kept battling and believing and doing what was necessary to get us back in the game."
Then he added: "From a fan's perspective, that was great hockey. If I was out there watching that game and I was watching us on television, that was an awesome game. The whole thing was awesome."
Alexander Radulov scored the tiebreaking goal on a one-timer with just less than 15 minutes left, and Andrej Sekera quickly added another goal for the Stars, who were down 2-0 after an extended Nashville power play in the opening minutes when Dallas forward Corey Perry got a game misconduct and was ejected for an elbow to the head of defenseman Ryan Ellis.
"It was an awkward play. It was very unintentional," Perry said after the game. "I didn't mean to do it. I hope he's OK."
Dallas reached the midpoint of its 82-game regular season with its third win in a row and in third place in the Western Conference. The Stars also overcame a 2-0 deficit in their previous game, with four goals in the third period of a 4-2 road win against the Arizona Coyotes on Sunday.
Nashville has lost three in a row and is 11th in the West after making the playoffs last season - and losing to Dallas in six games in the first round.
"You're involved in a game like this, and you want a different outcome so that you can really take the day in for what it's worth," Predators coach Peter Laviolette said. "So we sit here on the wrong side of it; makes it a little more difficult for us."
Dallas got its first goal with 1:08 left in the second period, when Jason Dickinson skated around the back of the net and passed across the front of goalie Pekka Rinne to Blake Comeau for the shot that made it 2-1. The Stars then scored three goals in a short span to start the third period.
Attendance was billed as 85,630, the second-largest crowd to attend an NHL game. The largest was 105,491 at Michigan Stadium for the 2014 Winter Classic as the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Detroit Red Wings.
NHL officials said the crowd included more than 20,000 Predators fans, which commissioner Gary Bettman noted was more people than would fit into Nashville's home venue, Bridgestone Arena.
"It was awesome. You don't really know what to expect when you walk out for the start of the game, but the atmosphere, the fans, everything they had going on with the fireworks, the flyover, everything, was just awesome," Comeau said. "It was nice to have a Texas feel."
Radulov scored from the right circle on a power play, and Mattias Janmark had a goal and an assist in the third. John Klingberg assisted on both power-play goals to start the third before Sekera's first goal in nearly three years.
The Predators led 2-0 after Matt Duchene scored a goal and assisted on another by Dante Fabbro after Perry's penalty less than three minutes into the game.
Ellis was down on the ice for a short time before being helped off the ice. He was then taken to the locker room on a motorized cart and never returned. Laviolette said Ellis "got banged up pretty good" without providing a more detailed update.
The hit by Perry came just after Ellis had gotten the puck in front of the blue line. Officials issued the game misconduct penalty after reviewing video.
After another Dallas penalty created a 5-on-3 matchup, Duchene's ninth goal of the season put the Predators up 1-0. Time was running out on the five-minute major against Perry when Duchene assisted on Fabbro's fourth goal of the season.
Rinne and Stars goalie Ben Bishop had 31 saves apiece.
The temperature at the start of the game was 54.9 degrees, the warmest for a Winter Classic but about average for northern Texas on Jan. 1. It was also overcast, which made for good playing conditions for the southernmost outdoor game in NHL history.