Heika’s Take: Stars go flat in New Year’s Eve game, lose 4-1 to streaking Sabres

In a lot of ways, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was a party pooper on Wednesday night.

The Buffalo goalie made some spectacular saves and had a lot of help from his red-hot teammates on the way to claiming a 4-1 win over the Stars in their traditional New Year’s Eve game at American Airlines Center. The barn felt as flat as a bottle of cheap champagne on a night when Big D is supposed to be bubbling.

But as much as it would have been easy to blame the Sabre grinches and their 10-win lightning bolt ride, Glen Gulutzan found it easier to locate the cause for the fiasco a little closer to home.

“We ran into a good team, and we weren't quite ready to play, which is the concerning or disappointing part because the playing field for us right now is pretty level, meaning we've had a couple of good practices,” Gulutzan said. “We've got good energy. We've been at home. We haven't been traveling. Our energy levels should be high, but that's the disappointing, concerning part.”

Truth be told, the lads in Victory Green simply weren’t good enough, and that’s concerning for a lot of reasons. One, they lost in overtime at Detroit before Christmas in a game where they didn’t take advantage of chances. Two, they lost at home to Chicago in a shootout after Christmas in a game in which they were outbattled. And three, they had time to rest and practice around the holidays and had pretty much committed themselves to being a lot better on Wednesday.

They shot out of a cannon like a midnight firework, as Mavrik Bourque scored 15 seconds into the game, and this had the look of a memorable evening that might have needed its own nickname (think the Hullenium or the Marty-Party).

Instead, it turned into a bit of happy revenge for Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff and his group of scrappy Sabres. Luukkonen shut the door on some great scoring chances, and then Tage Thompson and Josh Doan finally wore down Stars goalie Casey DeSmith, and the crowd started to get restless. They booed the power play at times as it continued to sputter. Dallas is now 4-for-23 in its past eight games, far below the 30-plus percent it has been clicking at all season.

“I think we have had trouble now on the entry, so I think we have got to fix that and then get that power play back going and then go from there,” said forward Roope Hintz.

Gulutzan said he wasn’t as concerned with the man advantage as he was at even strength.

“You’ve got to win the 5-on-5 game, and I didn’t think we were close in the 5-on-5 game,” Gulutzan said. “We needed to be better. Even the faceoffs, we were 25 percent after the first period, and they’re not a historically strong faceoff team. That tells you a little bit.”

Buffalo ended up 28-20 in the faceoff circle, something coaches like to use to measure battle. The Sabres also won the battle of hits, 24-15, and had a 59-48 advantage in shot attempts.

It was a game Buffalo thought it deserved to win.

“Obviously, we’re riding a little high right now but at the same time I think we’ve done a pretty good job after a win of coming back, and making sure we’re ready for the next game,” said Tage Thompson. “We’re just one day at a time, one game at a time.”

For the Stars now, the feeling is they have to use that same philosophy to shake a three-game run of duds. Dallas lost to Chicago a few days ago. Now, it has some pretty clear motivation to get back on the winning side.

“That’s the only good part,” Gulutzan said. “The only good part is we have to go in tomorrow and play a team that came in here and just beat us. The focus on that should be pretty high tomorrow.”

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.