Heika’s Take: Stars triumph over adversity on way to comeback win against Jets

Truth be told, the Stars have had a Barrel of Monkeys on their back this season.

With the team scoring at 2.50 goals per game (26th in the league), there was plenty of frustration to go around. And with Wyatt Johnston scoreless through seven games coming off a 45-goal campaign last year, you had some pretty obvious examples of searching for any kind of solution.

But Johnston did his due diligence to finally achieve primate extraction in the second period, and then his teammates found a way to perform to throw off the gorilla that is Stuart Skinner – and the Lads in Victory Green pocketed their second come-from-behind win in front of a grateful peanut gallery perched under the Big Top that is the American Airlines Center.

In the end, Roope Hintz added two goals to Johnston’s en route to a 3-2 OT win against the Winnipeg Jets.

“That’s what we’ve talked about here the last few days,” coach Glen Gulutzan said of the team’s struggles to put the puck in the net. “When [Stuart Skinner] is having a game like he is, how do you kind of make sure the group isn’t getting frustrated? You’re getting a lot of chances, and that’s what we did talk about.”

The Stars started hard and threw everything at Skinner, who has had some fantastic games against Dallas when he was a member of the Edmonton Oilers (primarily in the playoffs). The thought was that Johnston’s goal early in the second period might open the floodgates, but Skinner just buckled down all the more.

Instead, Jets forwards Gabriel Vilardi and Kyle Connor scored goals two minutes apart in the second period, and it appeared the Stars might not be able to pull off this escape act.

But with goalie Jake Oettinger pulled, Mikko Rantanen threaded a perfect pass to Hintz in the slot and the hometown side forced overtime for the third time in the past four games.

Once in the extra period, the game became scrambly. Jason Robertson turned a puck over, leading to a great scoring chance against, but then he laid out to block the shot, and Miro Heiskanen moved the puck to Hintz for a breakaway chance. Hintz tallied his fifth goal of the season and the Stars moved to 6-3-1 after 10 games.

“We were the better team today,” Hintz said of a squad that had a 60-41 advantage in shot attempts, twice the number of quality scoring chances, and a 40-24 edge in the faceoff circle. “We had a lot of chances, but we just didn’t score on their goalie,” Hintz said. “We just talked in the room to keep going like this and eventually get the chance to put the puck in the net. We did that today and it was good work.”

Robertson and Johnston each scored 45 goals last season and they have combined for four so far this year. Robertson said the fact the team continues to create chances every game helps the Stars players fend off frustration.

“Last game is a great example,” Robertson said of a comeback win against Boston. “We’re getting opportunities and we’re just one shot, one pass away from really opening it up.”

If that happens, the possibilities are intriguing, because the other end of the ice looks pretty darn good. Oettinger is among the league leaders with a 1.23 GAA and .939 save percentage, and the team leads the NHL in fewest shots on goal allowed per game at 22.0.

“That’s the base, and now we just have to add to it,” Gulutzan said.

In each of the past two games, Dallas has trailed in the third period and then mounted a rally. That’s a good lesson for everyone to simply work hard and embrace the plan.

“They haven’t been coming that easy, but I think we’ve done a great job the last two games just sticking with it,” Johnston said. “Especially in those third periods, we have been really good down a goal. We are just sticking with it. We are hard to play when we are playing our game and sticking to it as much as we can. It was great to get it done tonight.”

That said, the Barrel of Monkeys is far from empty. With four more games on this homestand, maybe a few more chimps can be banished.

“It’s going to come,” said Robertson. “I think we’re going to find it.”

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.