Heika’s Take: Stars navigate chaotic game, secure win in shootout over Golden Knights

In its own way, the Stars’ 5-4 shootout win over Vegas on Thursday was a lovely appetizer.

The NHL announced on Thursday morning that the two teams would play in a 2027 Stadium Series contest next February at AT&T Stadium, and then a fierce battle at T-Mobile Arena kind of reflected just how close the two teams are.

With the win, the lads in Victory Green are now 9-8-4 all-time against the Golden Knights, and the fierce rivalry added another thrilling chapter.

“We’ve had a lot of good games against one another, so it should be good,” forward Radek Faksa said of next year’s meeting.

The Stars would have preferred a little simpler contest on Thursday, but that’s just kind of how these games usually go. Dallas squandered a three-goal lead for the second game in a row, but found a way to win again. Both Jason Robertson and Mikko Rantanen scored in the shootout, while Jake Oettinger stopped both shooters he faced to push Dallas to 31-14-9, a point behind Minnesota for second place in the Central Division with a game in hand.

Vegas falls to 25-14-14 and is now tied for first in the Pacific Division with Edmonton.

“You look at the way the league is with all of the comebacks,” said coach Glen Gulutzan on a night when a couple of different teams overcame multi-goal deficits in the third period. “They’re a good team. We’re not going to dominate them for 60, they’re not going to dominate us for 60. It’s about sticking with it. That’s just the way it is. You’ve got to be confident and comfortable playing in those tight games.”

Dallas has been seeking to find that comfort on a more regular basis. After stumbling through a 2-6-4 stretch, the Stars have won four of their past five. Now, included in those games were the past two “shaky” wins, but they did end up winning both.

“The points are obviously what we target for,” said captain Jamie Benn, who had two assists. “It’s not ideal giving up three. The league is too good to take even a shift off. Every play is so important.”

The Stars felt they let their intensity and execution slip in the third period against St. Louis on Tuesday, so they came out and played a very good first period on Thursday, taking an early 1-0 lead on a Matt Duchene goal. However, Vegas was very good in the first five minutes of the second period and tied things up.

Dallas then responded by winning faceoffs, playing physical and getting the better of the “compete” game. Mavrik Bourque scored off of pretty feeds from Roope Hintz and Benn, and then Wyatt Johnston made it 4-1 off a great pass from Rantanen.

That should have been the game, but Vegas scored shorthanded off a turnover on the Dallas power play four minutes into the third, added another goal at the 13:54 mark and then tied things up with its goalie pulled in the final minute of regulation.

The two teams then battled through a frantic overtime where both Robertson and Bourque had nice chances, and Dallas finally banked the two points in the shootout.

“I thought we had good looks 3-on-3, and then we won the shootout,” Gulutzan said. “You need to collect those points. Good on our guys, we stuck with it. I really liked our group tonight.”

In a lot of ways, learning lessons while winning games can be a good thing.

“A lot of the battles and physical plays we didn’t have in St. Louis,” said Sam Steel. “We knew coming into this building we would have to up it a notch, and I thought we did for a good portion of the game. That’s the time we spent in their zone and got rewarded for it, and at the end of the day, that’s how we won the game.”

Dallas finished with a 27-21 advantage in shots on goal, won 31-of-61 faceoffs, and had a 29-26 advantage in hits. They had the better of the chances, and that was a nice feeling.

“This was much better,” Gulutzan said in reference to the Blues game. “We’re playing a good hockey team here. We played two solid periods and even our third period wasn’t a bad period. It was just one of those games, you’re playing a good team. But I liked our physicality, I liked the way we defended, I thought it was a good hockey game.”

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.