Challenge answered: Stars excited for home opener after navigating tough opening weekend

As an avid sports fan, one of the most enticing traditions to participate in is the Monday Morning Quarterback.

In case you’re unaware, it’s the practice of looking back at a game hours after it’s wrapped up. It inevitably leads to focusing on all that went wrong (or at least could have gone better) and boldly proclaiming, “Well, if x didn’t happen, they did y better, and z played smarter, they would’ve won this game.”

Forget the established and already-obvious motto of “hindsight is 20/20.” It’s more fun to feel like you’ve got the answers and have it all figured out, right? At the very least, it can sometimes help you feel better about your team’s lacking performance. It also makes yelling at the TV feel slightly more vindicated.

Anyway, if you were to play MMQB with the Dallas Stars after their opening weekend of the 2025-26 regular season, what would you say? Or, perhaps a better question is what could you say?

When the schedule dropped back in July, it provided a daunting one-two punch for Dallas off the hop. Not only would the Stars have to hit the road with a new coaching staff against two Central division rivals, but it just so happened to be the two teams they extinguished from the Stanley Cup Playoffs back in May. The fact that Winnipeg and Colorado owned two of the top three home records in the NHL over the past two seasons added another layer of difficulty, as did running the gauntlet without longtime captain Jamie Benn as he recovers from surgery.

“We might as well get at it,” Gulutzan said of the schedule just before the season began. “You gotta go through it. Whether you’re trying to win this time of year or trying to win at the end of the year, you have to go through the best to get it done. You might as well do it early and test yourself.”

That’s a tall order for just about any team in the league. And yet, the Stars rattled off back-to-back 5-4 wins and headed home late Saturday night with a spotless 2-0-0 record.

It began on Thursday against the Jets as Dallas weathered an early storm against the Jets, got the first goal and eventually bowled out to a 5-1 lead early in the third period. But after Winnipeg struck three times in a row (including twice while shorthanded), the Stars had to slam the door shut with a late penalty kill to secure the win.

Two nights later, they once again put together an instant classic against Colorado. The two teams went punch-for-punch, trading goals and never letting the other get up by more than one score. And while Dallas looked a little rusty and a step behind for large portions of the night, they received superb goaltending from Jake Oettinger. The 26-year-old stopped his last nine shots faced in the third period and overtime as Colorado poured it on late, then made two saves in the shootout to lock up the second point.

Could they have been sharper in the final 10 minutes against Winnipeg? Sure. Could they have been more consistent in their overall effort against Colorado? Definitely. But at the end of the day, their record is pristine and one of just four undefeated marks left in the NHL. That’s an impressive feat.

“I really liked the Winnipeg game through 50 minutes,” Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said on Monday. “We can talk about the two shorties, but for 50 minutes we were a very good hockey club. We didn’t have our legs in Colorado. But, like the sign of a true good team, you’ve got somebody else on your roster that helped you out a lot. You need that.”

Perhaps the most positive part is that even though the Stars are 2-0-0, they aren’t satisfied with their play. Both the coaches and players have been quick to point out the flaws in their game. They’ve zeroed in on the rough edges shown in the first two games and have made a definitive commitment to fixing them.

That’s a really important piece to the puzzle as Dallas continues its run through a condensed 2025-26 trek. It’s one that includes 57 games in the first 119 days (with nine back-to-backs mixed in) before the Olympic break hits. And after possibly up to nine Stars head to Italy to compete, Dallas will get back to it with 25 games in the final 50 days.

In the first month alone, the Stars have a wave of challenges that includes 10 of their first 13 games against 2025 playoff teams and 16 of the first 25 against the Western Conference. It’s a steep mountain, no doubt. But this team seems eager to meet the challenge with balance and versatility.

“You look at the season, we’re going to have to play four lines as much as we can,” Gulutzan said last week. “That doesn’t mean to say I’m not going to drop down when I have to and mix things around, especially when you’re getting behind in games or anything like that. But with the season the way it is and the Olympics, you’re going to need to use your depth. We’re going to use that.”

That depth has shown already with goals from seven different Stars in the first two contests against strong opponents. Now the focus lies on patching up the exposed holes while keeping their strengths intact.

“What we need to do is keep pushing the territory battle into our favor,” Gulutzan said. “If you just counterpunch like we did the other night, it’s not a good recipe to take out the top teams. You can’t do that by counterpunching your way. I think if we gain more territory with the players we have and win the territorial battle, it’ll even increase how good we can be.”

Their next chance to take that next step comes Tuesday in their home opener against the Minnesota Wild, and it’ll no doubt be an exciting one for Gulutzan.

And how couldn’t it be?

When Gulutzan last stood behind the Dallas bench in a regular-season game, it was April 27, 2013. The Stars were wrapping up a fifth straight campaign without a playoff berth and fell in a flat 3-0 loss to Detroit. Richard Bachman made 34 saves as Dallas was outshot 37-17, and news broke midway through the game that the Stars had hired longtime Red Wings assistant general manager Jim Nill as its next GM. That hiring ushered in a wave of change in the summer that included Gulutzan being relieved of head coaching duties.

It was an altogether murky time for the Stars, who were 21^st out of 30 teams in terms of average attendance.

But oh, what a dozen years can do. Gulutzan now returns to a Stars team loaded with talent and flirting with greatness. He also will stand in front of a raucous home crowd that has finished in the top 12 of average attendance in six straight seasons.

When asked what he was most excited about in his return to American Airlines Center, he had a clear answer: “The fans. Just the energy in the building. I think that’s the most important part. I think for the players, too, it’s the fans. People are excited for the first game. For me, it’s definitely that. It’s a great environment to come into.”

“I’m really excited,” said Stars forward Radek Faksa about the home opener. “I always remember that opening night is special. The building is buzzing and the fans are excited for the new season. There are big expectations, so everyone is really excited.”

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Josh Clark is a writer for DallasStars.com. Follow him on X @Josh_Clark02.