Stars veterans lead the way in 3-2 overtime win against Wild

It’s just the second game of the preseason, so you do have to temper expectations, but the Stars definitely have some skilled players.

Using a heaping helping of top veterans against a Minnesota team filled with prospects and depth players, Dallas controlled the puck and created a multitude of scoring chances on Tuesday. It took a while to finally log a 3-2 overtime win, but new head coach Glen Gulutzan was happy with what he saw.

“I think it’s good for our players, because there was chatter on the bench that we need to start finishing,” Gulutzan said. “That plants a seed for them moving forward that we need to polish up a little bit.”

Tyler Seguin finished with seven shots on goal but didn’t score until the game-winner on a nice pass from Miro Heiskanen. Mikko Rantanen had six shots on goal and scored the first goal for Dallas. And Jason Robertson had four shots on goal and bemoaned the fact that he didn’t score more than his goal and assist. Before Robertson was able to shove home a rebound goal early in the third period, he had a breakaway and a doorstep chance that he didn’t score on.

“Breakaway, backdoor pass, a lot of chances,” Robertson said. “I should have scored those.”

That said, just creating those chances was important. Dallas made some big changes on the bench in the offseason, bringing in Gulutzan for Pete DeBoer and promoting Neil Graham as an assistant coach. That means there will be adjustments. Gulutzan was running the power play as an assistant coach for the Edmonton Oilers last season. Graham comes in with the man advantage being a big part of his responsibility after he was head coach of the Texas Stars. When you mix in the fact that Rantanen is also in his first full season in Dallas, then there are going to be some growing pains. The Stars went 0-for-3 on Tuesday, and had both good moments and bad.

“You practice lots of things in the offseason, but you don’t practice power play,” Seguin said. “Yesterday was day one of the power play movement, so you play a little bit of road hockey early on, for sure. Graham and Gully have been great so far of us understanding what they want, and also at times letting the skill take over.”

Even with Rantanen, Robertson, Seguin, Jamie Benn, Matt Duchene, Thomas Harley and Heiskanen in the lineup, the Stars still didn’t have their full units on the ice. Gulutzan said that will be a part of moving forward. He has emphasized from the start that he wants to be better than the opposition in getting scoring opportunities, and has liked the fact the chances against have been low for the first two preseason games. Dallas had a 37-21 advantage in shots on goal Tuesday and twice as many scoring chances as the Wild.

“Our emphasis early on has been our defensive side of the play, so these next few days we’re going to move into some offensive concepts,” Gulutzan said. “I was happy with the shots and happy with the chances we’re giving up.”

Jake Oettinger had his first start in the preseason and played the whole game in goal. He gave up two goals on 21 shots and looked good overall. He stopped a couple of breakaways and shook off the rust of the summer.

The Stars also finished with 25 hits to 21 for the Wild. The emphasis on more physicality was important against a scrappy team.

“I thought our guys for the second game, they competed. You could see some will there, so that was good,” Gulutzan said. “At the end of the day, keeping it close for us is going to be an advantage.”

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

Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on X @MikeHeika.