Heika’s Take: Stars stack another strong showing in shutout win over Sabres

Coaches talk all of the time about “stacking.”

Stack one good shift on top of another, stack good practices, stack good games. It’s a small sample size, but the Stars are doing exactly that right now.

Dallas cruised past Buffalo, 4-0, on Thursday following a 5-0 win over San Jose on Monday. It was a lot of the same, and that’s a good thing.

“I thought tonight we were even better than the last game,” Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said. “I thought we were good against a really good hockey team.”

After blitzing a Sharks team that was missing injured superstar Macklin Celebrini, the Stars rolled into Buffalo and had to survive some pretty good push-back. The Sabres finished with a 26-18 advantage in shots on goal and a 63-39 edge in shot attempts.

It was a great night for Jake Oettinger, who posted his second straight shutout after stopping 13 shots against San Jose, and it was a really good game for a Stars team that slowed down in the third period and still found a way to protect the shutout gift for their goaltender.

“There was some score effect that came into that third, but it’s a room-for-growth process,” Gulutzan said. “We sat back. I don’t think we can have that mentality anymore, we want to change that.”

A fast start and a good middle allowed for that third period. Mikko Rantanen and Jason Robertson worked a sweet rush up the right wing and Robertson snapped in his second goal of the season midway through the first period to open the scoring. Then, Sam Steel, Rantanen and Roope Hintz scored in the second to make it 4-0.

The Steel goal was great because the versatile forward is playing on a top line with Rantanen and Wyatt Johnston. With a lineup tightened by the salary cap and missing injured Matt Duchene, Steel, Justin Hryckowian and Jamie Benn are getting chances to play in bigger roles. Each is taking advantage of his opportunity.

“Guys like me, we can bounce around the lineup and play with whoever we play with and then complement whoever you’re playing with,” said Steel, who has a goal and an assist in 14:26 time on ice per game. “There are a lot of good players on this team and we’re all just going to go out and do our job.”

That’s been apparent in the past two wins. Gulutzan heaped praise on Rantanen (goal and three assists), Johnston (three assists), Hintz (goal and six shots on goal) and Robertson (goal and four shots on goal). But he added that Thursday was truly a team win.

“Those four can do big things, but I like the game all of our guys are giving us right now,” Gulutzan said. “Our D has been moving the puck great and our forwards are connected. We just need to keep stacking.”

There is that term. It makes complete sense and it’s especially important in an 84-game season. By setting achievable goals, a team continues to get better and refine its game. Even if you win a few, there still is a purpose to your preparation, there still is an emotional drive to get better every day.

“We’re just trying to play hockey and not think too much,” Hintz said. “We’re trying to play quick hockey.”

That’s been the goal all season. It didn’t start well in back-to-back losses where the team produced just one goal. It’s much better after the players and coaches were able to assess the situation and make needed changes.

Dallas finally scored on the man advantage as Rantanen, Johnston and Hintz combined beautiful passing to create a great goal. It came at a time when the Sabres were trying to breathe and got pushed down.

“A lot of times specialty teams is not how many you score, it’s when you score,” Gulutzan said. “We got big kills and then we got a goal that hurt them a lot.”

Now, the Lads in Victory Green want to do a lot of the good things and still recognize the “bad” things.

“It’s nice to put up what we put up, but it’s even better knowing that we are defending well and that offense isn’t coming from forcing things,” Steel said. “We’re doing this right.”

In more ways than one.

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.