Heika’s Take: Stars fall just short to Avalanche in thrilling shootout loss

The Stars on Friday showed how far they have come since the beginning of the season.

They also showed how far they have to go.

Hoping to mark progress after an early season win against Colorado, coach Glen Gulutzan was looking for better puck possession, better compete and better defensive coverage. He got all three, but he also got a third period in which his Stars were unable to cash in on several power play opportunities and also fumbled a solid chance at an empty-netter to put away the game. That opened the door for the Avalanche to tie the game with 15 seconds left in regulation and eventually take a 5-4 shootout victory.

“I liked us tonight,” Gulutzan said. “We had a chance for an empty netter. If we hit that, we'd be having a different discussion right now. There was a lot of growth from the first game we played them until now. But that's just a preview of what's to come. There's more of this to come."

Colorado has the best record in the NHL. Dallas is right behind the Avalanche. This was a huge test for the lads in Victory Green, as they were on a 10-game winning streak and really wanted to see where they stood. And for 59 minutes, they looked like the better team.

Despite missing injured forwards Mikko Rantanen and Radek Faksa, Dallas took a 4-2 lead and chased Colorado starter MacKenzie Blackwood from the net. However, former Stars backup Scott Wedgewood came in and didn’t give up a goal the rest of the way. He helped shut down several power play opportunities in the third period, made two saves on the 3-on-3 overtime and stopped Jason Robertson and Matt Duchene in the shootout.

That opened the door for an Avalanche comeback, as Martin Necas made it 4-3 in the second period and former Stars forward Val Nichushkin tied things up with the goalie pulled and time running down.

Dallas had a chance to close the game out when Justin Hryckowian passed to Jamie Benn to set up an attempt at an empty net goal. Benn shot just wide.

“If that goes in it's probably over,” Benn said. “You give them another chance, they come down and score.”

Hryckowian, who had one of his best games with a goal and an assist in 20:22, said he could have just shot.

“I’ve got to rewatch it,” the rookie forward said. “I wasn’t thinking too much. I picked my head up and saw there was kind of like a rush and swung it over. It probably wasn’t the right play, put him in a tough spot.”

That said, the Stars still had chances to win the game in overtime or the shootout. Instead, Colorado moves to 42-10-9 (93 points) while Dallas moves to 38-14-10 (86 points).

Dallas plays Colorado two more times coming up and could face the Avalanche in the playoffs, so this was just one step in the learning experience.

“I liked a lot of our players today,” Gulutzan said. “I learned we’re right there. They’re the top team in the league and I thought we were right there with them toe to toe. We battled, we were resilient and we just didn’t get the result we wanted.”

The Stars also saw center Roope Hintz leave the game with a lower body injury. Hintz was returning from an illness, so he has been battling bad luck. Dallas did add two players before the trade deadline in forward Michael Bunting and defenseman Tyler Myers, so they could be making lineup changes before Sunday’s game against Chicago anyway.

Gulutzan said they will have an update on the status of Hintz on Saturday or Sunday.

“It’s not fun,” said defenseman Miro Heiskanen. “You hope it is not too serious."

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.