Heika’s Take: Stars’ solid effort in Game 1 spoiled by bad bounces in 5-1 loss

The hockey gods can be cruel.

With their backs to the wall and needing a positive statement to start the playoffs on Saturday against the Colorado Avalanche, the Stars played their best game in close to a month. But a couple of bad bounces and a resilient Colorado team combined to give the visitors a 5-1 victory and seemingly highlight that Dallas is in real trouble after losing Game 1 in the playoffs again.

Stars coach Pete DeBoer disagreed.

“I think it’s probably the best game we’ve played in three or four weeks,” DeBoer said. “I thought we were pretty solid.”

Dallas checked off a laundry list of needed improvements, including defensive zone coverage, stronger transition play and creating top-level scoring chances. That said, the Stars still took too many penalties - a bugaboo that has just crept up in the past month - and couldn’t cash in on the great scoring chances it created. As a result, Colorado first took a 1-0 lead and then a 2-0 lead, and that helped change the game and create a mindset for each side.

The toughest part for the Stars was the fact that both of Colorado’s first two goals were of the “fluky” variety. The first came after Artturi Lehkonen got tied up with Mavrik Bourque while driving the net. As both fell to the ice, Lehkonen’s skate kicked a puck over Jake Oettinger’s shoulder and into the net nine minutes into the second period. The goal was reviewed by the league for a “distinct kicking motion” but was deemed accidental, so the goal stood.

That gave the Avalanche the all-important first goal and forced the Stars to start playing from behind.

Roope Hintz then took a double-minor penalty for high-sticking Nathan MacKinnon, and Colorado scored on their first opportunity as well. MacKinnon shot a puck off of the glove of Dallas defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin that caused the puck to wobble past Oettinger to make it 2-0 heading into the third period.

The Stars finally got on the board when Hintz scored on a Dallas power play, and the game truly looked up for grabs. Mason Marchment came inches from tying the game a few minutes later, but Colorado goalie MacKenzie Blackwood came up with a huge save – one of 23 on the night in his playoff debut – and Colorado then made it 3-1 just seconds later.

The Avalanche added an empty-net goal and a garbage-time goal to create a deceptive final score, but the bottom line is Dallas lost again in Game 1. The Stars have now lost Game 1 in a playoff series for seven straight times under DeBoer – with six coming at home. They have rallied back to win four of those series, including the First Round against Vegas last season when Dallas lost Games 1 and 2 at home.

“Obviously, we don’t want to be in this situation, but we have a lot of experience being down 1-0 in a series,” said forward Wyatt Johnston, who had several great scoring chances. “That gives us some positive notes that we’re able to come back from this. We lost game one against these guys last year and were able to get it back. In playoff time, you’re going to lose games and win games, but the most important thing is the next game.”

The Stars are walking a line between being confident and realistic. On one hand, it’s never good to be down in a Stanley Cup playoff series. History says you typically lose and go home. On the other hand, that was a game more like what the Stars have played for much of the season.

“Just keep doing what we’re doing,” said defenseman Thomas Harley. “I thought we played our best game in a month or two tonight. That’s hockey. Some things bounce off a skate or glove. We will live it and move on to game two.”

With Jason Robertson out with a lower-body injury, DeBoer shuffled his lines and received some good results. He played Mikael Granlund and Evgenii Dadonov with Hintz for a great deal of time, and has the Marchment-Matt Duchene-Tyler Seguin line back together. He also put Mikko Rantanen on a line with Johnston and Jamie Benn again and liked what he saw there.

On defense, the top four stayed the same without Miro Heiskanen, while the bottom pair was rookie Lian Bichsel with Alexander Petrovic. That duo played about 12 minutes. Harley logged more than 27 minutes, and that’s going to be something the team has to do while Heiskanen is out. The veteran defenseman, who had knee surgery in January, skated Saturday morning and could be getting closer to a return, but he still hasn’t really practiced with the team.

But while fans can ponder and speculate all sorts of options going forward, the Stars need to concentrate on winning Game 2 on Monday at AAC. Getting a split would be much more manageable, and simply getting a win on the scoreboard after eight consecutive losses would be encouraging.

“But you’ve got to make your bounces in the playoffs, and they worked for their bounces,” DeBoer said. “We’ve got to work on some bounces.”

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.