Heika’s Take: Stars wrap up regular season home slate with stingy shutout win over Rangers

Home is where the hands are.

And a lot more for the Dallas Stars.

Jason Robertson scored two goals, including one on the power play, to lead Dallas to a 2-0 win over the New York Rangers at American Airlines Center on Saturday. The win clinches home ice in the First Round against Minnesota when the playoffs begin next week, and that’s a good sign for a team that has made home a pretty cozy place.

Dallas ranks fourth in the league at home with a 26-11-4 record and has the best home power play in the league at 29.3 percent. That’s reassuring.

“I think it's always an advantage,” said Robertson. “You have your fans, you have that energy right away. We’re going to use that energy and momentum, and be ready for Game 1.”

In a lot of ways, it was a familiar feeling for the Stars on Saturday. They battled through some early sludge and then found a way to win the game late. Dallas’ penalty kill was spectacular, goalie Jake Oettinger made several huge plays, and then Robertson cashed in on the power play.

“We don’t score easy,” Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said. “We grind to score, but we start out different than a lot of teams. We are not out here trading chances back and forth. We’re playing a little bit of a stingier brand of hockey that we are willing to stay with, and usually that’s the way it goes in the playoffs after everything settles down. Hopefully that benefits us as we go.”

The Stars’ power play has been consistent all year, even more so at home. Wyatt Johnston leads all players in home power play goals (17) and points (27). Robertson ranks fourth in home power play points with 20.

The duo has 44 goals each on the season, and they continually find ways to baffle goalies.

“They both work super hard on that stuff,” said Oettinger. “If you come to practice on a day-to-day basis, it wouldn’t surprise you how much they work on that and work on their game. They’re both super smart, and we’re lucky to have them.”

It’s a big reason why the team has been able to find success, despite injuries at times to players like Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn, Matt Duchene, Mikko Rantanen and Roope Hintz. Missing from Saturday’s game were Hintz and Miro Heiskanen, but others continue to step up. Thomas Harley played 26:26, including 5:47 on the man advantage. Duchene and Rantanen also logged 5:47 and Robertson played 5:42.

It wasn’t always pretty, as Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin was great in net, but Dallas stuck with it and finally scored.

“You have to stay patient, especially when you get your opportunities on power play,” Robertson said. “Stick with it and we did.”

Likewise, the penalty kill was efficient, stopping five Rangers power plays. Dallas allowed three power play goals in the previous game (a 5-4 win over Minnesota), and there was much talk in the morning about fixing those issues.

“I think all of the guys on the PK dug in,” Oettinger said, “It’s not as sexy as the power play, but it is just as important. We all take pride in that. There are like 10 guys going into every game where that’s our job, and especially as a goalie you can really make a difference on the penalty kill. Letting in three goals in one game on the PK makes you want to bounce back.”

Assistant coach Alain Nasreddine made a few adjustments, and the Stars players responded well.

Esa Lindell played 5:54 and Tyler Myers logged 4:21 while shorthanded on defense. Meanwhile, forwards Colin Blackwell, Justin Hryckowian and Oskar Bäck took turns shutting things down up front.

“We needed to bounce back,” Lindell said. “We had to play quite a lot of PK today. We did a good job mostly and Jake had some nice saves on 5-on-3.”

Oettinger stopped 22 shots to earn the 16th shutout of his career and his fourth of the season.

As for the offense, it was a struggle at times. But after getting just nine shots on goal in the first 40 minutes, Gulutzan told his players to have more fun.

“I told them it’s no fun to just defend,” he said. “I think our team is really good without the puck. We are very good without the puck, but it is more fun to play with the puck, and that was really the message here. We have to do some things holding on to pucks and start to get our forecheck and get our feet moving through the neutral zone so that we can play with it. I mean, who wants to defend all night? So, that was the message there and it’s been the message for about a month. Let’s get better with it and do some more things with it.”

That could be huge against the Wild in a seven-game series, but the Stars need to get through two road games (at Toronto on Monday and at Buffalo on Wednesday) before the series can begin next weekend at AAC.

“If I look back at the year, at the beginning we were a little bit better on the road than we were at home, and then we got our home record sorted out and a good feeling at home,” Gulutzan said. “I thought today’s game was physical. It wasn’t a light contest, and it’s good. We just keep playing the same way and I like the way we responded later in the 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 X @MikeHeika.