Heika’s Take: Jamie Benn’s 1,000th point caps off impressive win for Stars

Jamie Benn’s 1,000th point was pretty much perfect.

Coming off a tough loss to Winnipeg on Thursday that required a lot of leadership from the captain, Benn’s team bounced back with a determined, detailed performance in a 2-0 win over the Buffalo Sabres Saturday at American Airlines Center. To put a historic bow on the victory, Benn’s 1,000th point was the game-winning goal and scored in pure Jamie Benn fashion – a hard working rebound 36 minutes into a scoreless game.

Stars coach Glen Gulutzan coached Benn in the AHL nearly 20 years ago and then in Benn’s third and fourth NHL seasons in Dallas, and said the journey has been great to watch.

“To see him get 1,000 in the same uniform and then just see how he’s matured, grown up, and he’s 1,000 percent a team player,” Gulutzan said. “That’s what every coach would want as their captain. The guys know it, I know it.”

Benn’s accomplishment was feted immediately, as the bench emptied and teammates surrounded him in celebration. He sits second all-time in franchise history behind Mike Modano in games played (1,271), points (1,000), goals (418), and game-winning goals (66). He will have his number in the rafters when he retires, and teammate Tyler Seguin joked that chasing down Modano at 1,359 points could be a goal.

“I leaned into his ear and said, ‘It’s only 300 more,’ it’s only a few more years, stick around,” Seguin said with a smile. “I’m just so happy seeing his accomplishments, whether it was the Art Ross earlier or 1,000 points now, or both of us becoming dads. He’s a guy you want to fight for.”

That was proven in the past week, as Dallas held several meetings after the 8-3 loss to the Jets, and Benn was at the center of the discussions. While Gulutzan and the coaching staff provided the blueprint and goalie Jake Oettinger showed a ton of backbone in bouncing back from being pulled to post his 20th career shutout, Benn was the quiet voice that weaved through the fabric of the team.

“It’s a character win, really,” Gulutzan said. “To get the shutout coming off what we did, it shows character.”

Gulutzan asked his team to dig in and play a more detailed game, and he saw that in the first two periods. He wanted more focus in the second period and Dallas had a 10-5 advantage in shots on goal. And he wanted Oettinger to rebound, and the veteran goalie stopped 11 shots in the third period to preserve the win and open the door to allow Wyatt Johnston a late insurance goal on the power play.

“Some quality, quality saves,” Gulutzan said. “For me, that’s the true sign. It’s like I say, ‘When are we getting these saves?’ and we got them when we needed them.”

The team did all of that with defensemen Miro Heiskanen, Lian Bichsel and Kyle Capobianco injured and out of the lineup. Trey Taylor and Kyle Burroughs came up from the AHL and steadied the third defense pairing, and Thomas Harley (28:01) and Esa Lindell (27:11) pushed their minutes up to help fill the gaps.

Up front, Radek Faksa, Sam Steel, Arttu Hyry, Joel Kiviranta and Justin Hryckowian helped the penalty kill go 5-for-5. Meanwhile, Faksa’s 12-5 night in the circle helped Dallas win 62 percent of the faceoffs.

“You guys know what happened last game,” Seguin said. “Postgame. Players only. Just wanted to get back to what we do best, which is how we defend, and everything else kind of takes care of itself.”

It was a team effort that reflected well on the team leader.

“He’s been the heart and soul of the team ever since I've been here and long before I’ve been here,” Oettinger said of Benn. “He’s everything you want in a captain and leader. He’s been one of the best Dallas Stars of all time. He deserves a lot more recognition than he gets. We’re all happy for him and honored to be out there for a lot of his points.”

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.