Heika’s Take: Stars’ strong effort comes up just short in 3-2 loss to Avalanche

As they do in every game, the Stars really wanted “a result” against the Colorado Avalanche Tuesday at American Airlines Center.

That verbiage means points in the standings, especially when facing their hated Central Division rivals for the first time this season. But while the visitors escaped with a 3-2 win that pushed them to 4-2-0, Dallas didn’t walk away empty-handed. No, the Lads in Victory Green faced a ton of adversity and learned a little bit about their teammates.

Tyler Seguin, for instance, stepped up in the absence of Wyatt Johnston (who missed the game with illness) and had his best game of the year. Miro Heiskanen played 25:04 and had two assists. And Roope Hintz had a huge fight with Avalanche superstar Nathan MacKinnon, making a statement that could last for a while.

Hintz was hurt after getting tangled up with MacKinnon last season and missed the playoffs. The two also go back a few years as major combatants in the rivalry. But the wiry Finn isn’t known for fighting, so when he held his own against MacKinnon, it was a nice moment.

“I was surprised when I saw them drop the mitts,” said Mikko Rantanen, who is friends with both players. “I think Roope got him pretty good in the first one. He’s a competitor, and obviously, [Nathan MacKinnon] is pretty tough too, so good for Roope.”

Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said he too felt happy for his top center. With Johnston out, there was also more pressure on Hintz, and he clearly was on edge against MacKinnon.

“I knew right from the start he looked agitated with the whole thing,” Gulutzan said. “Obviously, with what happened last year at the end of the year, he’d be missing the playoffs for us. I think that was a blow for him. I thought we had energy tonight. We had fight. We battled for 60 minutes, but we didn’t get the result.”

And that is a problem for Dallas, which drops to 2-3-1 in the early season. The Stars had a 26-25 advantage in shots on goal and a 59-47 edge in shot attempts. Dallas dominated the faceoff circle (36-27) and had the better of the scoring chances, but Colorado played a solid team game and Mackenzie Blackwood was on top of his game in net.

Bottom line, the Stars still are having trouble scoring. They have scored just one goal at 5-on-5 in the last 140 minutes of play.

“I think we competed hard, we had some looks, but a couple chances if we had a little more poise, we’d have better chances to score,” said Rantanen. “We were kind of rushing it a little bit today. I feel offensively, we’d get it and then throw it away right away, so we need a little more poise.”

That has been a topic for much of the early season, as Dallas ranks 30th at 2.17 goals per game.

“We were good tonight,” Gulutzan said. “It’s two good teams playing. I thought we were slightly better. We need to put something home five-on-five and capitalize on some of our chances that we did create. I thought that was the difference. [Colorado] capitalized on the ones that we gave them, and we didn’t capitalize on the ones they gave us.”

The Avalanche got two goals from Martin Necas and one from Artturi Lehkonen. The Stars had a goal and assist from Seguin and a goal from Hintz. However, Rantanen had no shots on goal and Jason Robertson had just two. Yes, depth players like Sam Steel, Justin Hryckowian and Colin Blackwell had good scoring chances, but they couldn’t cash in.

So the Stars were left looking for positivity in other places. The two teams fly to Denver for a quick rematch on Wednesday, and that is an opportunity, to be sure.

“It’s a six-period match here,” Seguin said. “We have a good chance to respond tomorrow. You feel the intensity. It’s always close, it’s tight and we have another chance tomorrow.”

And a chance to grow some more, like Hintz did with his fight.

“It means a lot,” Gulutzan said. “There’s a lot of energy there against a player who is one of the best in the league and is tough in his own right. It shows you care, it shows who we are as a group, to fight back and claw. I think that’s a step for us. We’re in it for business, so we’ve got three more periods to try to even this thing up.”

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.