Heika’s Take: Stars rally from early deficit, fend off Flames in overtime

The Find-A-Way Stars keep discovering new and interesting ways to win games.

Thursday was one of the most interesting.

With a thin group of defensemen and a game that was stretching into the final minute of 3-on-3 overtime, head coach Pete DeBoer decided to go with the rare three-forward look, playing Jason Robertson with Roope Hintz and Matt Duchene. That trio almost lost the game on a defensive breakdown, but Nazem Kadri hit the post, and the Stars turned up ice and made a nice play to win the game on a Robertson goal with 43 seconds remaining in the extra frame.

It completed a third period comeback and pushed the Stars to 41-19-2, good for 84 points, third best in the NHL.

“I don’t think we’ve been as good maybe the last few games as we’re capable of,” said Duchene. “That’s the nice thing, we're still winning games not with our best. We’re not satisfied. We want to be better. We’re happy with the win tonight but we’re not satisfied with the game. That’s the way winning teams have to be.”

As it has been for the Stars on many nights since returning from the 4 Nations break, the game was uneven. Dallas got in a hole early when rookie defenseman Lian Bichsel made a bad read and Calgary’s Joel Farabee beat him for a goal 2:13 into the game. Mikael Backlund made it 2-0 just 2:29 into the second period, and it looked like the Stars’ recent resilience might have hit a wall.

Wyatt Johnston cut the deficit to 2-1 four minutes into the second period, but then Calgary took control of the possession game. The Flames had a 24-12 edge in shots on goal at one point, and appeared to be in total control. However, Jake Oettinger came up big and allowed the Stars to find their legs in the third period.

“I mean, trust that Jake’s going to come out and make a save or come out and force him to make a bad shot,” Robertson said of Oettinger’s efforts that helped force Nazem Kadri to hit the post. “So yeah, I mean just play and be thankful. I mean it's overtime, it happens. It goes back and forth, someone hits the post, someone goes back the other way, it's hockey, it's why everyone loves three on three. But yeah, I’m sure they were a little nervous on that one.”

Robertson tied the game nine minutes into the third period, and that brought the crowd’s energy back into the game. With shuffled lines and captain Jamie Benn leading the way on a lot of shifts, Dallas looked like the better team. Then, when the game went to 3-on-3 overtime, Calgary tried to string things out and slow things down.

The strategy kind of worked as each team had just one shot on goal before the Robertson game-winner, but it also forced DeBoer to try something different. With Thomas Harley having played 26 minutes and Esa Lindell logging 25, DeBoer put Hintz out as his “defenseman” in overtime. The Flames seemed to smell an opportunity and worked the puck to Kadri, who rang his shot off the post. Dallas collected the errant rebound, Duchene pushed up ice and floated to the left point, found Hintz on the right side, who then sent a perfect pass to Robertson crashing the net. Robertson tapped in his second goal of the game and the 27th of the season.

“We’re short on offensive defensemen that would play in that situation, and we were looking at some options and Harley started to get a little bit fatigued and [Lindell] was fatigued,” DeBoer said. “We relied on those guys all night, so we thought we’d roll the dice there and we got away with it. They hit the post just before that so if that goes in, we’re probably having a different conversation but we found a way to win.”

Duchene said a lot of players are fatigued. The team has had to squeeze in a tough schedule after the 4 Nations, and doesn’t have the depth it once did because of injuries to Miro Heiskanen, Tyler Seguin and Nils Lundkvist.

“I don’t know if I’ve been that tired in a game in a while,” said Duchene. “I think a lot of us were a little run down tonight and didn’t have our best, but found a way to get it done.”

In the end, though, Dallas once again found a way. They beat New Jersey in the final five seconds on Tuesday and beat St. Louis on the strength of four power play goals on Sunday.

“We got some guys that are hot. I mean they’re feeling it,” Duchene said. “You’ve got to ride that wave. Roope and Johnston are as hot as anyone in the league. You know, Robo has been scoring. It’s nice for those guys because they’ve had parts of the season where they couldn’t get anything to go in. They’re catching that right now at the right time.”

Now, the team has the NHL trade deadline on Friday and then back-to-back games at Edmonton and Vancouver this weekend before a four-day break between games.

“You don’t just ride the results,” Duchene said. “You’ve got to think about the process, and I think we can be better than tonight. I think there’s a few of us that were maybe not at our peak physical state tonight. That happened and you got to find a way to get it done and we did.”

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.