Heika’s Take: Stars’ defensive issues at home continue in collapse to Devils

If this is Spring Break, the Stars are “The Holdovers.”

Locked in at home, Dallas has been forced to learn life lesson after life lesson on the American Airlines Center ice, and it certainly hasn’t been fun. They just hope it pays off at some point in the future.

Dallas was crushed on Thursday, 6-2, by the New Jersey Devils. That came on the heels of a third-period meltdown Tuesday when they blew a three-goal lead and lost 4-3 to the Florida Panthers. It was a frustrating experience to sit through both tutorials.

The Stars were determined to rebound from the Florida loss, and they looked well on their way when Wyatt Johnston scored 15 seconds into the game on Thursday. But New Jersey was able to push home a couple of fluky goals to keep the game tied at 2-2 after 20 minutes, and then Dallas handed the game away with some mistakes and bad decisions.

“The frustrating thing is we came out and got the first goal and you’d like to think that’s a good sign and you can build on that,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “Instead, we were really flat for a big portion of the rest of that period. We dug ourselves a hole and, unlike San Jose and some other places, instead of finding a way to dig out, we didn’t tonight.”

Dallas falls to 40-19-9 (89 points). They are behind Colorado on a tiebreaker and just ahead of Winnipeg, which has games in hand, in the Central Division race. So the pressure of the playoffs is starting to build up. The Stars are in the middle of a five-game homestand and they have one of the “easiest” strength of schedules remaining in the NHL, but one of those “easy” games was supposed to be the Devils, who are 32-30-4 (68 points).

DeBoer said they can’t be thinking that strength of schedule is any kind of benefit right now.

“The `easiest’ schedule for me doesn’t mean anything,” DeBoer said. “We would be foolish to plan anything around that. You’ve got to go out and win these games and you’ve got to give these teams the proper amount of respect. We’re smart enough to know that.”

Players didn’t feel they let up at all, and were determined to play hard after the Florida loss, but they definitely have to look at the film and see how they made mistakes and created some of the scoring chances for New Jersey.

“We have to be careful with the puck and make right plays at right times,” said defenseman Miro Heiskanen, who scored an own goal on a deflection. “We have to try to avoid those and clean it up and play a little more simple.”

DeBoer said that if there is one lesson to take out of this game, it’s that the shift-by-shift intensity is imperative. Dallas has overcome inconsistent nights by outscoring their problems, but that’s a bad long-term strategy.

“If you’re going to play that game, you’re not going to be able to do that every night,” he said. “We got what we deserved.”

The Stars have played a more high-event game at home. They rank third in scoring at home at 3.91 goals per game, and are fourth on the road at 3.34. However, they are fifth in road GAA at 2.71 and 26th in home GAA at 3.31.

Even worse, they are .911 in road save percentage and 31st in home save percentage at .879.

Thirty-first!

Jake Oettinger was pulled 24 minutes into the game after allowing four goals on 10 shots. Scott Wedgewood entered in relief and allowed two goals on 10 shots.

“I’m not going to hang this on our goaltenders tonight,” DeBoer said. “I think this was a collective effort loss by everybody. I think we can all be better at home.”

He’s right about that, but the numbers are concerning. Wedgewood said the goalies are breaking down every goal and they are trying to learn from each one. The problem, he said, is they feel like they’re doing a lot of things right.

“I feel like Jake and I look at each other and say, 'We're in the right spot, our D is in the right spot, and it’s a ricochet, it’s a tip, it’s off the leg and right to someone who is wide open,’” he said. “For whatever reason, it feels like it’s a little worse on home ice, but we’ve got to battle through it. Jakey and I want to be better. Obviously that’s what you want to do as a goaltender whether you get one goal against or six goals against. We strive and push each other for that, so there’s no lack of effort. We’ll find a way to battle through it.”

The lessons are there, they just have to learn from them. Preferably sooner rather than later.

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 Twitter @MikeHeika.