Heika’s Take: Stars turn lemons into lemonade in comeback win vs Blackhawks

The Stars have made plenty of lemonade this season.

On Saturday, they might have turned some of the bitterest of fruits into a pretty sweet concoction.

Playing one of their worst periods this season and losing goalie Scott Wedgewood to an injury, Dallas somehow rallied to pick up a 3-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center. It was a testament to the mental strength of the team and coach Pete DeBoer’s line juggling, as Matt Duchene (power play), Mason Marchment (even strength) and Joe Pavelski (empty net) tallied to complete the team’s 14th comeback win of the season.

“It’s just sticking with it,” said captain Jamie Benn. “It wasn’t pretty tonight, but we found a way.”

The Stars have won five times when trailing after two periods, third in the league. They have won 14 times when trailing at any point in the game (tied for most in the NHL). They have outscored opponents 61-48 in third periods (most third period goals in the league). While the team would love to be able to get a lead and play from ahead, winning while trailing is a great trait for any team.

“You’re not going to have your best every night, and for us goalies it always seems to come down to one or two saves,” said Jake Oettinger, who came on in relief and stopped 20 of 21 shots. “If we can do that, and keep the game in reach then we feel we have a great team that will score some goals late and we did that.”

Oettinger returned on Friday after missing a month with a groin injury. He allowed four goals in a 6-3 home loss to Nashville. While he was backing up Saturday, Stars coach Pete DeBoer really did not want to have to use him, but Wedgewood suffered a lower body injury in the second period and had to leave.

“I thought he was outstanding,” DeBoer said of Oettinger. “I thought Wedgy was great too. We could have been down three or four-nothing at the end of two. I had my fingers crossed with Jake, to sit out that long with a groin injury. The last thing we wanted to do is play him back to back, thankfully he got through it.”

Oettinger said he was in the dressing room with the video coaches when he got the call. He said his heart jumped and he was concerned, but that he just had to do his job. When asked if playing Friday might have helped get him more ready, Oettinger smiled and said, “No, I don’t think so.”

“I wasn’t as fresh as I wanted to be, but that’s hockey. You’ve got a job to do,” he said. “You never know what’s going to get thrown your way, so you just have to be ready. I’m just happy to play well and help the guys come back.”

The scoreless first period was sort of a standoff between a tired Stars team and a Chicago team trying to scratch up from the bottom of the league. But the Blackhawks turned it on in the second period, grabbing a 17-6 advantage in shots on goal and scoring on a nice transition play to get a 1-0 lead after two periods.

It would have been easy for DeBoer and the coaches to come in and tear the paint off the walls in the second intermission, but that didn’t happen, Benn said.

“After two periods, we felt it was on the players,” Benn said. “Coaches can only say so much. We talked about it and found a way to win. There was no point in screaming and yelling. It was on us, we needed to be better.”

That said, DeBoer helped by shuffling lines again. The head coach has been able to push the right buttons at different times this season, and that’s what he did Saturday. He changed up every line, putting Sam Steel with Wyatt Johnston and Pavelski, Benn with Roope Hintz and Craig Smith, Jason Robertson with Duchene and Tyler Seguin, and Marchment with Radek Faksa and Evgenii Dadonov. DeBoer said he liked the energy of the fourth line and wanted to make use of it.

“I thought our best players through the first two periods were our fourth line guys – Craig Smith, Sam Steel and Faksa,” DeBoer said. “Wanted to get those guys sprinkled throughout some of the other lines, just because I felt they had legs. And it made sense, in a back-to-back, they played the least out of anyone last night so they were energized. And I thought they made a difference on whatever line I put each of them on.”

Marchment drew a penalty (his team-leading 17th of the season) and Duchene cashed in on the power play. Then, Marchment turned a transition into his 14th goal of the season, and that proved to be the game-winner.

“It’s been probably more frequent than we want, but sometimes you need an adjustment,” Benn said of DeBoer’s line juggling. “ He’s got a great feel for the game and clearly we needed it tonight.”

There was no update on Wedgewood’s injury after the game, so there is a chance that Matt Murray has to come up again and back up. The Stars play host to Los Angeles on Tuesday and then head out on a four-game road trip, so the challenges continue to come. Dallas moves to 25-12-5 on the season, including 12-4-3 on the road.

“We said in the intermission, just be positive,” Marchment said. “It’s tough to travel back-to-back, and I’m very happy with our team.”

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.