First Shift 🏒
The tests keep coming for the Stars, but maybe that’s a good thing.
Dallas is coming off recent games against Colorado and Vegas and gets the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday. After that, it’s home games against Detroit and Utah followed by road games at Colorado and Minnesota. It’s pretty much a dress rehearsal for the playoffs.
“It’s good to play good teams,” said forward Johnston. “It definitely is good to test yourself.”
Dallas is coming off three games in which it has had to protect one-goal leads in the final minute or so. They allowed goals against Colorado and Chicago – losing one game in a shootout and winning one in overtime – and then held off Vegas on Tuesday by closing the door in a 2-1 victory.
“It's important for our mindset so it doesn't grow into something bigger,” Stars coach Glen Gulutzan of solving that problem on a short-term basis. “I thought the guys did a good job of packing it in a little bit more and blocking when we could. You don't want those things to get out of control. It's good that you can lock down leads especially when it's 6-on-5 because it can become something and I thought we were good in that area.”
Obviously, anything that can help you be better prepared for the post-season is a good thing, but the Stars don’t want to find adversity every game. Goalie Jake Oettinger said lessons are great, but so is taking care of business in a normal fashion.
“You never want to go through them,” he said. “But it’s better to go through them now than late April. We just learn from our mistakes and if the empty net isn’t there, we just need to chip it out. We did that tonight.”
Part of the lessons during this 12-0-1 run is learning to deal with injuries to Rantanen, Hintz and Radek Faksa. Because of that, players like Adam Erne, Justin Hryckowian and Arttu Hyry are getting more ice time. In recent games, Oskar Bäck and Nathan Bastian have come up with key goals. Mix that with the presence of trade deadline acquisitions Tyler Myers and Michael Bunting, and there is a lot going on here.
But if you can deal with that, and win a lot of games, it seems to be a good thing. Gulutzan said the team has handled the adversity well.
“I think the one thing that we’ve done a good job of this year is they all feel like they’ve got a piece of this thing,” Gulutzan said of team chemistry. “That’s important.”
And it’s tangible on the bench and in the dressing room.
“That’s what’s great about this hockey club,” captain Benn said. “It’s different guys every night, and that’s what it takes. It takes a team to win in this league.”
The hope is the Stars are preparing to win when it matters most.
