Heika’s Take: Stars trust process, rally in shootout win over Capitals

The Stars needed that one.

The Stars deserved that one.

The Stars got that one.

Pushed to the brink in a game where they had large patches of domination, Dallas battled for a 5-4 shootout win against the Washington Capitals on Thursday. The victory ended a two-game losing streak, but the elation seemed bigger than that.

“We were staring at going o-fer on the road trip, and really, we’ve played some pretty good hockey,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “We found a way to grind it out, but it wasn’t an easy trip. Not a lot of bounces, not a lot of calls, but we found a way to salvage two points.”

Dallas lost 5-4 in Florida on Wednesday night after a 4-0 loss in Tampa on Monday. In both games, Dallas had some unfortunate mistakes and bounces. The Panthers got the go-ahead goal on a puck that took a strange bounce off the glass Wednesday, and then Washington received its first goal Thursday when Stars goalie Scott Wedgewood and his teammates had some miscommunication behind their own net in the first period.

That just added to the frustration for Dallas, which was on the second night of a back-to-back.

“It was a tough turnaround,” said Matt Duchene, who had an assist in his 1,000th career regular season game. “I don’t think I put my head down on the pillow until 2:45 last night.”

Still, the Stars played hard early and controlled the pace for much of the game. They finished with a 38-27 advantage in shots on goal and a 76-55 edge in shot attempts. Washington took a 3-1 lead before Dallas came storming back on goals by Mason Marchment and Roope Hintz to tie the game just two minutes into the third period.

The Hintz goal came on a power play and deflected high in the air over Washington goalie Charlie Lindgren before settling into the net. It seemed like a gift from the hockey gods, who had been tormenting the Stars for most of the trip.

“The first one was luck,” Hintz said. “Think it hit my toe or something.”

That said, the Stars did the work to earn the luck.

“We created enough to deserve a bounce,” said DeBoer. “We weren’t waiting for a bounce.”

At that point, the Stars seemed in complete control, but as luck would have it, Washington once again took the lead. Dylan Strome potted his second goal of the game to give the Capitals the lead, but once again the Stars fought back.

The top line clicked again in retaliation, as Jason Robertson and Joe Pavelski worked to get Hintz the puck, and he snapped in his 10th goal of the season and second of the night. Dallas didn’t let this tie slip away, as it pushed the game to overtime and, eventually, the shootout.

Robertson was the only shooter to pot a goal in the skills session, as Wedgewood came up big and moved his record to 4-1-1.

“He’s played well for us this year,” DeBoer said. “He’s picked up valuable points for us and usually in tough games. This is as tough as it comes with a back-to-back coming from Florida last night. He doesn’t get the easy assignments and he finds a way to get points for us.”

It was a big performance on a night when the Stars really didn’t want to be stuck with a loss. They had played some good hockey on the road trip – especially on Thursday – and there was the fear they would be left empty handed.

When asked what the feeling was, Seguin said, “Desperately.”

“We didn’t want to go 0-3 on this road trip,” he added. “We have left some points on the board lately, so it was nice to come back in that one.”

The Stars move to 15-7-3, good for 33 points. They play host to defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas on Saturday, so a loss would have made the challenge in that game even more daunting. But it sure feels like an easier game now.

“I think everything about this day and game was hard,” Seguin said. “From the time we got in last night and the time we’re going to get in going home. We played two good teams. These guys worked hard tonight, so we’re happy with the two points.”

In addition to Hintz getting two goals, Robertson getting two assists, and Seguin and Marchment each scoring their ninth goals of the season, the Stars also saw the return of defenseman Nils Lundkvist to the lineup after three healthy scratches. He played 15:01, much of it with Thomas Harley, and finished plus-1. Harley, meanwhile, was used in overtime and finished with a team-high plus-3 in 22:31 of ice time.

“It was a big win for us,” Duchene said. “We have no panic in here. It doesn’t matter how much we get down, we’re a very mature veteran group. I don’t think we ever thought we were going to lose that game, even though we got down 3-1. We just had to pick it up and start playing our game.”

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 Twitter @MikeHeika.