Heika’s Take: Stars can’t find score sheet in 4-0 loss to NHL-leading Jets

The Winnipeg Jets looked ready for the playoffs on Thursday night.

The Stars did not.

Winnipeg took a 4-0 win over the Stars at American Airlines Center and virtually clinched first place in the Central Division (there is a pesky tiebreaker standing in their way). It was a statement win by the team that could very well win the Presidents’ Trophy (for best record in the regular season) as Winnipeg was defensively detailed and offensively opportunistic. While Dallas was hoping to bust out of a recent slump, the Jets wouldn’t let that happen.

“We’ve struggled with them all year,” said forward Matt Duchene. “They’re the best defensive team in the league. Their record is where it’s at because of that. I thought we did a lot of good things. Our work ethic was good. It’s not like they were dominating us all night. I don’t think it was a 4-0 type of game by any means. It felt like a 2-1 either side.”

Winnipeg moves to 54-21-4 (112 points), six points ahead of Dallas (50-23-6, 106 points). The odds are the Stars will start the playoffs with home ice advantage against Colorado in the First Round.

“It’s not bad to have some adversity as a team, particularly when it’s not costing you,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said of four consecutive losses. “You’re not going home at the end of the night, so as long as we learn from it…there’s good stuff there and I want to make sure our group understands that. I don’t think we’re very far off from having a very good team game.”

Thursday’s game was supposed to be a big test for the Stars, and they really did come out and play well at times. Dallas exchanged chances with the Jets throughout the first 40 minutes, but still fell behind 2-0. Nino Niederreiter calmly redirected a shot past Jake Oettinger 18 minutes into the first period, and then Morgan Barron walked around Stars rookie defenseman Lian Bichsel and slipped a puck past Oettinger for a 2-0 lead three minutes into the second.

That was pretty much all the Jets would need, as Connor Hellebuyck posted his eighth shutout of the season and Dallas was held scoreless for the first time this year. It was a frustrating night for Stars shooters, as the Stars spent plenty of time in the offensive zone but found it difficult to work through Winnipeg’s sticks and bodies. The Jets blocked 16 shots and finished with 44 hits. They ran a clinic on playoff-style hockey.

“We've got to find a way to score against those guys,” said forward Roope Hintz. “We played alright for two periods, but we just couldn’t score, so we’ve got to find a way to score. We’ve got to watch some video and see what didn’t work today, and then from there take those with us to the next game.”

Dallas is 0-2-2 in its past four games (its longest losing streak of the season), and the run comes at a time when the team would really like to be ramping up for the playoffs. That said, DeBoer has been pleased with the small steps forward in the overall game. While the Stars allowed three goals in the final minute to lose to Vancouver on Tuesday, it also took a 5-2 lead on the strength of solid play. On Thursday, there were a lot of good things in the loss.

“I would rather lose and have long periods of good playoff type hockey, which I think the last two games I’ve seen some of that out of our group, and we haven’t had that for probably two weeks before that,” DeBoer said. “So we’re going to build on that.”

Now, the challenge is to push those “good plays” into a win. Dallas plays host to Utah on Saturday and then heads out for road games at Detroit and Nashville to close out the regular season. All three of those opponents will miss the playoffs, so this is a great opportunity to make a statement of their own.

“We’ve got to keep building here,” DeBoer said. “There are some periods of hockey that, for me, are winning-type hockey come playoff time. So we’ve got to take those and build on them. The things that don’t help you win in the playoffs, we’ve got to eliminate.”

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.