Heika’s Take: Stars display serious moxie, rally to beat Avalanche and split back-to-back

It was a long way to go for two points, but in retrospect, it was well worth it.

Battling through a 48-hour stretch in a heated rivalry with the Colorado Avalanche, the Stars on Wednesday came up with a hard-earned 3-2 shootout victory. Not only that, they forged a backpack full of storylines that could serve this team for, quite possibly, the rest of the season.

Roope Hintz was huge in a big fight with Avalanche superstar Nathan MacKinnon on Tuesday and then won the game for Dallas with a shootout goal on Wednesday.

Casey DeSmith came in and propped up his teammates on a scrambly night in Denver, stopping 25 shots and notching the 100th win of his career.

And the coaching staff and video team pushed a ton of the right buttons to help take a ship that could have started sinking and let it sail into Chicago on a fairly solid path.

“It was a really even six periods. We won three, they won three. We got two points and they got three points,” Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said of the mini playoff series. “These games are going to help us moving forward, because they springboard us into a different quadrant of play.”

Dallas had been up and down in the first five games of the season with a 2-2-1 record, but facing a Colorado team that won the Presidents’ Trophy last season and has been a familiar playoff opponent in back-to-back nights was a different kind of contest.

“It’s a really hard place to win, we’ve experienced that, so to come together as a team and pull that out feels really good,” said DeSmith, who stopped Nathan MacKinnon on the final shootout attempt to secure the win.

“He’s such a competitive guy,” Gulutzan said. “When you get in a shootout, you could see it. He was facing one of the best players in the game, and he was competitive.”

It was a great two nights between two high-caliber teams. MacKinnon and Hintz fought in a bloody battle on Tuesday in Dallas, and both continued their competitive matchup on Wednesday. In the end, MacKinnon was stopped on his shootout attempt and Hintz scored.

That’s pretty fun.

“We played really good yesterday and didn’t get the result we wanted, so it was a good comeback today,” Hintz said.

The game had all manner of ups and downs, as both teams were tired after flying in from Dallas, and the ensuing chaos turned into five different power play opportunities in the first period, as well as two overturned goals. Colorado scored first, but had the goal called off when the Stars challenged for offside. The second Avalanche goal was overturned by the league for a “distinct kicking motion” off of Gabriel Landeskog’s skate.

“It’s great that our video guys are so good at what they do,” DeSmith said. “It’s nice when you get some breaks like that.”

Dallas tied the game in the second period on a beautiful pass from Mikko Rantanen to Miro Heiskanen and then took the lead in the third when Arttu Hyry scored a shorthanded goal. Dallas was shorthanded four times in the game, and that was Rantanen’s second penalty of the night, so the turnabout was crucial.

Colorado came back and tied things up to force the eventual shootout, but Jason Robertson and Hintz scored, while DeSmith stopped Martin Necas, MacKinnon and Brock Nelson.

Dallas moves to 3-3-1 with the win in the early season and picks up its first win against a Central Division opponent. All of that is important, but not as much as going through the gauntlet and coming out stronger – particularly for players like Hintz.

“He stepped up, physically, checking-wise, scoring, he’s had a great two games,” Gulutzan said. “It’s great for his identity. He’s a competitive guy and people are going to take note. I love the jam he played with.”

And that goes for the entire team as well.

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.