Heika’s Take: Stars resume winning ways out of break, pick up seventh straight victory

The Stars punched a lot of right buttons this week.

Concerned with the possible rust created by a return from the Olympic Break and missing key players in Mikko Rantanen, Roope Hintz and Radek Faksa, the Stars leaned on the preparation of a mini training camp and the lessons learned in a six-game win streak before the break to outmuscle Seattle, 4-1, on Wednesday at American Airlines Center.

Head coach Glen Gulutzan shuffled up his lines, defenseman Lian Bichsel returned to the lineup, and backup goalie Casey DeSmith allowed Jake Oettinger to rest after his return from the Olympics by contributing a solid win.

The victory pushed Dallas to 35-14-9, good for 79 points and third place in the league. It also has the lads in Victory Green in the precipice of tying the franchise record win streak of eight games set back in 2024.

“I thought we were pretty good coming out of the break,” said Gulutzan. “I thought there was good emotion in the game, thought we picked up where we left off almost, which is nice to see.”

Gulutzan has been stressing a more detailed team game and he has seen that in the form of an average shot differential of seven-plus shots per game. That continued on Wednesday, as Dallas finished with a 32-19 edge in shots on goal. In addition, the Stars won the battle of hits (25-21) and faceoffs (31-23). Those victories within the game helped lead to the big win at the end.

“We talk about it, I use the kind of wording of the way we want to play as a little fabric in our jersey - the physicality, emotion and stuff that you need to win,” Guliutzan said. “I thought the guys did that before the break and they brought it tonight too.”

That wasn’t easy, as leading scorer Rantanen suffered a lower body injury in the Olympics and has been placed on IR with the possibility that he could miss several weeks. Faksa has been placed on IR with an upper body injury he suffered in the Olympics, but could return on Saturday. Hintz is day-to-day with an illness. To compensate, Dallas inserted Nathan Bastian and called up Arttu Hyry.

That created some interesting line shuffling as Wyatt Johnston centered Jason Robertson and Mavrik Bourque, Matt Duchene centered Sam Steel and Jamie Benn, and Justn Hryckowian centered Adam Erne and Colin Blackwell. Johnston scored two goals, while Duchene had a goal, an assist and won 10-of-13 faceoffs. Erne finished with five hits, Bichsel with four, and the entire team looked in sync.

“I loved it because you need some of that,” Gulutzan said. “It's emotion, it's real. With some of the hits on Miro [Heiskanen], if you don't have it, your teams aren't the same. You need it. You need it nightly.”

Heiskanen came back from winning bronze at the Olympics and played 25:22, tallying an assist. Thomas Harley returned from a silver-medal performance at the Olympics and logged 22:38, tallied two assists, and finished plus-3.

“I think the Olympic guys stepped up today,” said Bichsel. “It's not easy. They flew back here. I know how it is with the jet-lag and everything, and Casey [DeSmith] was unreal today and special teams as well. Just, overall, a great performance from us.”

The kind that is a great reminder of what happens when you do get that “one percent” more.

“I thought we were ready to go,” Duchene said. “It's usually the team that gets to their details and their game right off the bat, that usually wins those ones coming back from break. I thought we did that right off the bat. I think we were in control right from the start.”

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.