Heika’s Take: Stars come up just short in playoff-like showdown with Avalanche

The Stars on Saturday played a playoff-like game.

Sort of.

Dallas took on the best team in the league – the Colorado Avalanche – in a nationally-televised matinee at American Airlines Center, and the two teams had plenty of scrappiness and key moments in a game Colorado won 2-0.

“You saw what you’re probably in store for come playoff time,” said Stars coach Glen Gulutzan. “Especially in the Central [Division] just that tight checking, both teams willing to check. It was almost who scores first, it’s just one of those games and they made a play first and got the first goal and that was the difference.”

True, but the irony of the day is things are only going to get tougher when the playoffs start. The Stars are missing Roope Hintz, Radek Faksa, Sam Steel and Tyler Myers, and didn’t have Jake Oettinger in net. The Avalanche are without Cale Makar and Nicolas Roy, and started Scott Wedgewood in goal (although he might be their playoff starter when the time comes).

Bottom line, things might get even more intense in the postseason for both teams. Dallas is likely going to play Minnesota in the First Round, so a head-to-head matchup with the Wild on Thursday will be revealing, but there is a chance the Stars and Colorado meet again (as they have the past two seasons) and then we’ll see games like this.

Dallas is 2-1-1 in four games against the Avalanche this season, with three of the games going to shootout.

“It’s such evenly matched teams and it’s like one play in every game we’ve played them, one team capitalizing on a chance, a goalie making a save, maybe a power play or a penalty kill,” said Avalanche coach Jared Bednar. “It’s a fine, fine line between winning and losing when we play these guys, and you look at the standings where we’re right there beside each other for a reason. There’s some things in every game that I like and there’s some things that I don’t like that we have to be aware of and it’s just the way that it’s going to go when you play the Dallas Stars.”

And that’s why this is a great practice run for both teams. The two squads played aggressive hockey early and then slowed down when neither could get the first goal. Casey DeSmith was solid for the Stars and Wedgewood was great for the Avalanche, and then both teams settled into a more cautious game.

“Tight game, playoff game, not a lot of chances, not a lot of penalties,” Stars forward Mikko Rantanen said. “It came to one play, and they made one more play than us. That was the story.”

That one play was a nice pass from Artturi Lehkonen to Martin Necas midway through the third period. Necas slipped behind Stars defenseman Lian Bichsel and tapped a puck past DeSmith, and that was pretty much it.

Dallas created some great scoring chances but couldn’t get a puck past Wedgewood (who used to play in Dallas), and Nathan MacKinnon scored an empty-net goal for the final 2-0 score.

Colorado had a 22-17 advantage in shots on goal, a 53-44 edge in shot attempts and won the battle of faceoffs (22-17) and hits (22-17). However, scoring chances were even, and both teams had a chance to win the game.

“I think around the league, it’s starting to tighten up a bit with the playoff teams trying to dial things in and play defense first,” DeSmith said. “That’s what playoffs are, and that’s how you win.”

DeSmith has played just five playoff games in his career, but he is 14-8-6 this year with a 2.34 GAA and a .910 save percentage – among the league leaders in those categories. He was given this start as a bit of a test, and he responded well.

“I think he played a great game,” said captain Jamie Benn. “He’s been great all year. We’re lucky to have two great goalies on this team.”

And that is another thing that could be key in the playoffs. Dallas has five games left, so it has to find the right rhythm to its game. It still is missing Hintz, Faksa, Steel, Michael Bunting and Nathan Bastian, but Gulutzan said before the game he hopes to have all of his players healthy by the end of the regular season.

That clearly will change how the Stars function as a unit, but Gulutzan and players said they need to continue to work on improving aspects like even strength scoring to heap with an upward ascent into the postseason.

“Five-on-five offense is going to dry up, so you’re going to have to find a way to manufacture goals,” Gulutzan said. “I liked the last two games, and I’d like to see more of that. I would have liked to win [against Colorado], but we’ll try to get some growth and keep pushing our game. That’s what you want to see in the last five, areas where we can get a little better.

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.