Heika’s Take: Stars mount another furious comeback, rally to beat Maple Leafs

Resilience has been a big part of the Stars all season, and Monday was a great example of that.

Dallas bounced back from separate deficits of three goals (in the first period) and two goals (in the third) to take a 6-5 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Center, and there were a lot of individual stories of mental strength that were weaved into this game.

“It was a little crazy, but I liked our team staying at it,” said Stars coach Glen Gulutzan.  “I liked our fight back.”

The Stars have done that a lot this year, and in all manner of ways. On Monday, Toronto was playing loose and took a 3-0 lead in the first 16 minutes. With the Stars playing out the regular season, they didn’t need to bounce back.

But they did.

In the second period, Dallas received a great individual effort from Mavrik Bourque and that seemed to really change momentum. Bourque stole a puck on the forecheck and then slipped a shot between the pads of Maple Leafs goalis Artur Akhtyamov. That was huge, and Bourque followed five minjutes later with his second of the game on a push to the net. Jason Robertson then scored on a sweeping shot off  apretty pass from Matt Duchene and the game was tied.

Duchene has been a big player in Gulutzan’s push for more skill plays, but he said the team has to strike the right balance.

“I don’t think it’s risk taking. I think it’s execution and playing fast and playing on our toes,” Duchene said. “When we’re not good, we’re trying to be too safe. You don’t want to be making stupid plays, but you’ve got to make something happen. When we do that, we’re a very good team.”

Strangely enough, the team had a few more examples of both styles of play in the third period. Dallas first allowed two goals to get down 5-3 and then rallied back again. The power play got things started as Mikko Rantanen found Wyatt Johnston in the slot for his 27th power play goal of the season. That best in the NHL this year and a franchise record.

Arttu Hyry crashed the net a minute later and forced an “own goal” from the Maple Leafs to tie things up. And just like that, the Stars were right back in it.

Casey DeSmith toughened up in net for the Stars, and Bourque went right back to work, driving the net and pushing in his third goal of the game and 19th of the season. It was the first hat trick of his career and was a sign that Dallas might be getting its depth forwards working well at just the right time.

“That’s where goals get scored, especially in the playoffs,” Bourque said. “It’s going to be greasy out there, so you have to get inside and get to the net.”

It was one of the many lessons that the Stars learned.

“That was one of the things we talked about going into the playoffs,” Gulutzan said. “We’ve got to be more direct and we’ve got to go to harder places. I thought we did a good job going into those ugly areas.”

Now the Stars have one more game to hone things to an even finer point. Radek Faksa, who has been out since the Olympics, returned and played 13 minutes. He won 5-of-10 faceoffs. Michael Bunting also returned from injury and played on the top line with Johnston and Rantanen at times. Those are things we could see in the post-season.

Both Alexander Petrovic and Kyle Capobianco played, while Lian Bichsel rested and Nils Lundkvist (illness) and Miro Heiskanen (lower body) continue to be sidelined. Defensive depth is another question mark going into the post-season, so getting games from the depth defensemen was important.

So while there are question marks all over, this team seems to comfortable answering those questions on the fly. Dallas is now 49-20-12 (110 points) and has the third best record in the NHL.

“Our team has been really good all year at sticking with the game,” Gulutzan said. “Whether we’re down in the third or whatever, we have done a good job. They weren’t panicking, they’re a veteran group.”

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.