Heika’s Take: Stars survive another scare against Blues thanks to more late game heroics

The Stars won a big game on Tuesday against the St. Louis Blues, 4-3, but head coach Glen Gulutzan wasn’t very happy.

Maybe that’s a good sign.

Dallas played solid hockey in taking a three-goal lead after two periods at Enterprise Center, but then struggled in the third period and let the Blues tie things up with four minutes to go in regulation. In the nick of time, Thomas Harley was able to slip a shot past Blues goalie Jordan Binnington with just over a minute left to give Dallas the victory.

That said, it was a little too close for comfort.

“This just goes to show you what happens when you drop a degree,” Gulutzan said. “It doesn’t matter who you’re playing or where they are in the standings, everyone in this league is a good team.”

The Blues fall to 19-28-9 and will have to battle just to make the playoffs. The Stars move to 30-14-9 and are in a heated fight with Minnesota for second place in the Central Division. The Wild’s 4-3 shootout win against Chicago on Tuesday is just one more part of this lesson. You can’t afford to slip up and possibly waste points in a race that could come down to the last game. Dallas had a 3-0 lead after 40 minutes, led 18-15 in shots on goal, and was 20-9 in the faceoff circle. In the third period, the Stars were outscored 3-1, were outshot 11-6, and went 8-11 on draws.

“When you drop a degree, which we did – when you’re leading the faceoff circle by 66 percent and then you don’t win a draw in the third and you lose battles in the third, that means you’ve dropped a degree, and we almost lost the game because of it,” Gulutzan said. “Usually, you can tell these things in faceoffs, and you could tell in the third.”

Dallas also was outhit 43-12 for the game and came up short in a lot of the battle areas that Gulutzan likes to measure. That said, the Stars went 2-for-3 on the power play, were really good in the second period, and found a way to win in the end.

Mikko Rantanen made a great pass to find Matt Duchene in the second period to open the scoring. Duchene then deflected a centering pass into the net off a defender just 40 seconds later for a 2-0 lead. Then, Jason Robertson made a great pass to Roope Hintz to cash in another power play, and it was 3-0 after 40 minutes.

“I think we trust what we can do and trust that we can make those plays,” Hintz said of a power play that ranks second in the NHL at 29.9 percent. “We don’t get frustrated if they don’t go in, so we just have to stick with it.”

The problem was the Stars were too calm after the second intermission. The Blues battled back and received goals from Robby Fabbri and Brayden Schenn. The Fabbri goal came on a close play at the blueline and Dallas challenged for offside. The challenge did not hold up and the Stars then had to kill a delay of game penalty.

They did and it seemed they were in a good place, but then Harley rimmed a puck around the boards that hit the skate of an official. Schenn then scored his second of the night to tie the game.

Dallas battled back and looked for an opening, and they received one when Wyatt Johnston won a faceoff. The puck came back to Harley and he sent it right on net, beating Binnington with 1:07 left.

“The universe owed me one after that goal against,” Harley said. “So I got it back, thank goodness.”

The series of events could actually be called somewhat fortunate for the lads in Victory Green. They got a terrific scare, but also managed two more points in the standings. It’s the first time they have won consecutive games since before Christmas. And with four games remaining before the Olympic break, it’s a step in the right direction.

“Any game you win is a good one,” Duchene said. “It’s a good lesson that you can’t take your foot off the gas, because teams will turn it around on you.”

And with games ahead against Vegas (Thursday) and Utah (Saturday), the challenge only gets tougher.

Asked if this was a good lesson, Harley replied, “Yeah, it’s one I wish we would stop learning at some point.”

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.