Heika’s Take: Stars get “much needed” performance in 7-1 drubbing of Penguins

The Stars needed that.

Dallas got several players back in the scoring column, tallied two power play goals and even saw goalie Jake Oettinger shake some of his November “blahs” on Monday in a 7-1 thumping of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Mason Marchment tied a Dallas Stars record with four points (one goal, three assists) in a period, and tacked on another assist later in the game for a five-point night. Miro Heiskanen scored his first two goals of the season back-to-back. Wyatt Johnston broke a 10-game goal drought. And both Esa Lindell and Brendan Smith contributed from the back end with two assists each. Those kinds of things can be transformational for a team that has been struggling to put the puck in the net and was frustrated after a 4-1 loss in Winnipeg on Saturday.

“It was a good response,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “We’ve been a response team the entire time I’ve been here, and we needed it tonight. I don’t think anyone was happy after the Winnipeg game, so coming on the road with their pedigree, we knew would have to bring our A-game, and I thought we did.”

The Stars move to 9-5-0. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh falls to 6-9-2.

Dallas was dominant in the first period, as it scored early and often. Matt Duchene broke in and slipped a puck through goalie Joel Blomqvist just 2:33 into the game. Logan Stankoven followed with a goal five minutes later, and Marchment made it 3-0 three minutes after that when he broke in and pounded in a rebound off the boards. That goal chased Blomqvist and brought Alex Nedeljkovic into the game in relief.

He was quickly greeted by a nice goal from Heiskanen off a cross-ice pass from Marchment, and then an unassisted breakaway goal from the defenseman when he made a steal in the defensive zone and took it the length of the ice.

Tyler Seguin added a power play goal late in the opening frame and that gave the Stars six goals in a period – tied for the second largest output in franchise history. The Minnesota North Stars had eight goals in a period in 1981 (also on November 11, funnily enough).

It was the kind of performance this edition of the Stars needed, as recent losses against Florida and Winnipeg have provided plenty of frustration. Dallas has generated a ton of scoring chances over the past few games, but hasn’t been able to find the net. On Monday, everything seemed to be going in.

“We haven’t had one of those games all year, we had some bounces and some seeing-eye goals,” DeBoer said. “We had some guys who really needed a goal, so that was much needed.”

Ironically enough, Marchment wasn’t one of those guys. He and linemates Duchene and Seguin have been leading the way all year, and they did so again. In addition to Marchment’s five points, Duchene had a goal (his eighth of the season) and two assists, while Seguin netted his seventh goal in just his tenth game of the season. Marchment is in his third season with the Stars and has three goals among 13 points in 13 games. He missed one game with a nagging injury and took a puck to the face on Saturday in Winnipeg. To bounce back from that shows what he means to the team.

“He’s a big talented guy with good hands,” DeBoer said. “He’s got better feet and speed than people think. He’s hard to play against and when he’s moving his feet like that, he’s a big load to handle.”

Marchment said the five points does give him confidence…and he wasn’t alone in that category.

“It was huge. It was nice for a bunch of the guys to get on the board and feel good about ourselves, especially after last game,” he said. “It takes a weight off of you, you feel lighter.”

Smith jumped into the lineup when the coaches decided to make Matt Dumba a healthy scratch. It was just Smith’s sixth game of the year and also the 700th in his NHL career. The fact he played 16:47 and had two assists was a big deal to the 35-year-old.

“It was nice to get on the board, because it’s something I like to help out and contribute . . . as rare as that is,” he said. “We talked about that before the game. Scoring as of late has been challenging, and what you don’t want to do is cheat. We said play the right way. The longer you do that, then it’s going to come. So hopefully that kicks in and we can take off.”

Oettinger looked good, stopping 20 of 21 shots. Johnston had eight shots on goal and Heiskanen had seven. The power play went 2-for-4.

“Regardless of who got the points, that was a really solid team effort,” DeBoer said. “I thought Jake was good, I thought our defensemen defended well and our forwards played an honest game.”

Stankoven got just his third goal of the year among 13 points, which leads all NHL rookies. And Johnston, who had 32 goals last season, scored his second in 14 games this season.

Dallas has had to battle to get through the hangover from a week-long trip to Finland to open the month, and Monday should help in that process. The Stars play host to Boston on Thursday, travel to Minnesota for a one-game trip on Saturday and return for home games against Anaheim and San Jose next week. The opportunity is there to use this performance as a springboard.

“Finland was a great experience,” Marchment said. “But it’s definitely nice to be back in the swing of things.”

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 (formerly Twitter) @MikeHeika.