Heika’s Take: Stars completely unravel in lopsided 8-3 loss to Jets

The Stars had a rare night on Thursday.

And not in a good way.

Dallas allowed eight goals against for the first time since November 2016, losing to the Winnipeg Jets, 8-3, at American Airlines Center – and following that up with a long team meeting to address problems that have seeped into their game.

“It’s shocking, obviously uncharacteristic of us,” said goalie Jake Oettinger, who allowed six goals on 27 shots before being pulled in the third period. “It’s not good enough and every guy needs to be better, including myself.”

Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said in addition to the team meltdown, “we never got any saves.” It was a tough acknowledgement of Oettinger’s recent play. Yes, the big goalie is 4-2-0 in his past six starts, but he has a 3.90 goals against average and an .842 save percentage in that span. To start the season, Oettinger was 5-2-1 with a 1.23 GAA and .939 save percentage.

“It wasn’t his best game,” Gulutzan said. “We’ve got other guys in that boat, but certainly it wasn’t his best game. The whole group has to get better.”

Dallas actually had a great start. Home starts were an issue last season, and the coaching staff and players addressed it. The Stars got off to an early 2-0 lead in this one, but allowed the Jets to tie it just seven minutes into the second period. Dallas took a 3-2 lead on David Perron’s first goal as a Star, but then everything crumbled.

Winnipeg scored three goals in the next six minutes, including one in the final eight seconds of the second period. It was a mental meltdown, and that was the most obvious problem, Gulutzan said.

“I think when they scored, we had the mindset of we had to get it back, and that’s the wrong mindset,” Gulutzan said. “You’ve got to try to lock it down, get a little tighter in your mind.”

Gulutzan said he felt the team dealt with this a little bit after losing the first two games of the season, but he obviously will revisit the mental side of the challenge at practice on Friday before back-to-back home games against Buffalo and Florida this weekend.

Dallas lost defenseman Lian Bichsel to a lower body injury in the second period, and he might be out for a while, Gulutzan said. With Miro Heiskanen and Kyle Capobianco already sidelined, that could really test the team’s depth.

But players and coaches said this is a team problem with team solutions. Dallas has been outscored 19-10 in home second periods, and Gulutzan said they will focus on that. The Stars are 6-5-0 on home ice while averaging 2.97 goals for and 3.27 goals against. On the road, they are 4-1-2 with 2.71 for and 1.57 against.

The feeling is players are more conservative and stingy on the road, and Gulutzan would like to bring some of that attitude to the AAC.

“We’ve got to be tighter when you get scored on,” Gulutzan said. “We’re going to turn it around, there’s no question about that. But we need a blueprint. We have to look at what the problems are and address them.”

Captain Jamie Benn said: “I think you have to look in the mirror. It was obviously a pretty ugly night, unacceptable.”

While Oettinger added that the players know the path back.

“It’s not the first time in my career I’ve been pulled,” he said. “I just want to look at it tomorrow and see the things I did poorly and the things I did well and try to respond like I have all season. Goals are going to go in, but it’s that next shift, how do you respond? For me, it’s how do you make a big save after you let in a goal? We can do that as a team, and I can do that in net. Both things can be 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.