One thing that remains the same as last year in what has, early on, been a season of significant change for the Dallas Stars: They still come at you with a lot of Finns.
And while we might have expected to see Mikko Rantanen stepping up in his first rematch with what barely counts as his former team (he played all of 13 games with Carolina last year before being traded to Dallas), it was defenseman Miro Heiskanen scoring his first two goals of the season — one to tie the game in the second period and then a power-play game-winner in the third — to help the Stars beat the Hurricanes, 3-2, Saturday night at the American Airlines Center.
Heiskanen was actually stepping up for a fallen Finn as center Roope Hintz skated slowly off the ice and down the tunnel with 10 minutes to go after being slammed into the boards by Taylor Hall, who drew a charging penalty that led to Miro‘s game-winner. Hintz was still being evaluated after the game, so there was no real update on his availability Sunday night in Nashville.
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The victory ended a four-game losing streak for Dallas that had dated back to the club’s home-opening win over Minnesota 11 days ago. And it got the Stars back up above .500 at 4-3-1 while Carolina, a powerful Eastern Conference opponent, fell to 6-2.
The message from Glen Gulutzan was a simple one. He advised his players “to just keep painting the picture” before their game with Carolina Saturday night.
After 20 minutes, I felt like the Stars new coach really needed work on his delivery. Dallas found a way to fall behind 2-0 after the opening period, hardly the message it needed to convey to a visiting team that just lost its point-a-game defenseman (Shayne Gostisbehere) to injured reserve and was giving goalie Brandon Bussi just his third NHL start.
Carolina’s second goal came with just 17 seconds left in the first period. While Sebastian Aho is a quality goal scorer and it was a 2-on-1 that Heiskanen, inadvertently, had helped create, it was also the kind of play where the Stars need Jake Oettinger to come up big and make a stop. It didn’t happen, and this looked like more of the same for Otter, whose goals against average remains over 3.00 and his save percentage of .894 entering the game isn’t close to past performances.
Up in the air: See photos from the Dallas Stars comeback win over the Carolina Hurricanes
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But it was Oettinger, as much as anyone, who actually turned the game around. In his case, that meant stopping all 18 Carolina shots in the final two periods when the Hurricanes have been especially dangerous and Dallas has not been good (being outscored 22-14 before Saturday). For the rest of the club it meant things like big-time scorers Rantanen and Wyatt Johnston dropping to the ice to block shots after Carolina pulled its goalie in a desperate attempt to tie the score.
“Just shows how much those guys wanted to win,’’ Gulutzan said.
It feels like a turnaround game, the kind of thing Dallas sorely needed after a rather lengthy losing streak (by the Stars’ standards). But the reality is that teams often battle to find their way early in the season after a coaching change. While Pete DeBoer took three straight Stars’ teams to the Western Conference finals and came within a point of having the best record in the conference in his first season, Dallas was just 8-5-1 after 14 games before taking off and going 15-4-5 to finish December on a high note.
No reason not to expect somewhat similar results for a team that, roster-wise, remains one of the best in the West. Now having lost some scoring punch in free-agency and playing now without the injured Matt Duchene and Jamie Benn, the Stars aren’t the same team up front they were last spring by any means. That’s how Sam Steel, who scored on the power play, finds himself on the top line alongside Hintz and Rantanen, a bit of an elevated level for him. The same applies to Mavrik Bourque who arrives with great minor league credentials but hasn’t really found the scoring touch while playing with Jason Robertson and Johnston.
These things may play out in Dallas’ favor or they may just need to get healthier along the top lines. Scoring remains a real chore for Dallas which is on the wrong end of a 15-13 count at 5-on-5 play through eight games.
But the Stars found a way to scrap for a point against LA in an overtime loss to the Kings Thursday, and on Saturday they beat the East’s version of the Stars (Hurricanes can’t get past the conference final). After a pretty dreadful 10 days, the progress this team needs is showing up in the standings.
Miro Heiskanen scores twice as Dallas Stars rally to beat Carolina Hurricanes
The Stars trailed 2-0 after the first period before scoring the final three goals of the game.
Dallas Stars’ Roope Hintz leaves game vs. Carolina Hurricanes after taking hard hit
Hintz’s exit could be troublesome for a Stars team already down several forwards.
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