Heika's Take: It isn't always pretty, but Stars are finding ways to win

PITTSBURGH -- The process of the NHL season unfolded for the Stars in four acts on the road this past week.
Dallas had ups and downs, successes and failures, and a lot of challenges. But after talking a 2-1 shootout win over the Penguins at PPG Paints Arena Tuesday, they feel pretty good about where they are with two wins and two losses.

"It's a pretty good road trip," said goalie Braden Holtby, who had 27 saves and won the game in the shootout. "It's obviously some tough games and tough buildings to start. I think especially early on, (it's good) to really test yourself and test your poise, and I thought we did that. We stuck to our game plan."

The Stars are once again a hard-scoring team, but they also are a solid defensive team. That means that they'll fight to the end of every game, and they can come up with some key plays at key moments. On Tuesday, that meant saves from Holtby and shootout goals from Joe Pavelski and Alexander Radulov. It was a nice transformation from last season, when Dallas led the league in OTLs with 14. This year, they're 2-0 in games that have gone past regulation.

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"This is how tough the league is," Stars head coach Rick Bowness said. "We could've gotten points in all four games and we could've gone 0-4. That's how tough the league is. We'll take the .500. That was a really good hockey game, a hard-fought hockey game, so for us to play 4-in-6 (days) and come in here and play that well, I was very happy with that."

Pittsburgh was missing star players Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin with injuries but entered the game 2-0-1 and was playing tough hockey. The game was a real scrapfest for space, so when Miro Heiskanen, Radek Faksa and Michael Raffl combined to score at the 19:50 mark of the first period, it was a relief.
Faksa and Raffl have been good in the early season, and Heiskanen made a sapient play to get through the neutral zone with time running down. He found Faksa at the blueline, and Faksa rifled a cross-ice pass to Raffl for a fantastic one-timer. It was Raffl's second goal of the young season and came against a Penguins team that he knew well from his time with the Flyers.
"I know first-hand how hard it is to play here, no matter who's in the lineup or not," Raffl said. "I thought Pittsburgh played an outstanding game. They're hard to play against, they work, they're smart and they're fast. We came out and found a way to win."

Holtby was a big part of that. The veteran backstop who signed a one-year free agent contract with Dallas in the summer continues to be great in the early season. He struggled last season with Vancouver, so he's had to find his game again. He said he's enjoying the process of doing that, and his teammates say they're enjoying watching.
"He's a really good goalie," Roope Hintz said. "You can see that in practice when you shoot it at him, he's a great goalie."

Bowness said the Holtby does a great job of giving off a Zen vibe.
"He's very calm, he's been rock solid back there," the coach said. "We feel very confident with him in net. He handles the puck really well, he moves it to the right area, he's very poised, and that gives you a lot of confidence when you look back and see him."
Holtby did that when the Stars were under fire at times in the second period, but he said he also feels good playing behind a team that works very hard to keep chances to a minimum.
"That's pretty typical of the start in the year," Holtby said when asked about the inconsistent play of the Stars so far. "The good thing is we haven't got sucked into other team's game plans. That's a big positive."
Once again, the team struggled to score, and Bowness had to start breaking up lines again. He moved Jamie Benn back to center on a line with Tanner Kero and Denis Gurianov, and said he liked that line. He also put Hintz with Radulov and Jacob Peterson, and said that was good. That left Tyler Seguin centering Joel Kiviranta and Luke Glendening, and that also worked.
Hintz continues to fight his way back from offseason surgery. He didn't play in the preseason, and that means there's some work to do. The same goes for Seguin and Radulov, who played in the preseason, but also are recovering from surgeries.
"It's going to take some time, no question," Bowness said. "Seggy has missed a lot of time, Rads have missed a lot of time, we're just going to have to be patient with them."
That patience is easier when the team wins. Battling through a hectic overtime to get two points in a shootout gives Dallas a 2-2-0 record with no points surrendered to Western Conference teams, and that's a world better than last season.
Plus, it's just good to prepare for a lot of close games.
"There's a lot more coming," Bowness said.
You can count on that.
Be there when Texas Hockey comes home this Friday as the Stars face the Los Angeles Kings at American Airlines Center! The festivities begin with Party on PNC Plaza at 5:30 p.m. and all fans are encouraged to be in their seats by 7 p.m. Don't miss out, get your tickets now!
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mike Heikais a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika.