Heika's Take: Just stick with it

The Stars' frustration level is nearing its peak after a 4-1 home loss to Columbus on Saturday.
The defeat featured several "almost" moments, including two overturned goals and a number of foiled scoring chances. What's more, Dallas played in Minnesota on Friday (a 2-1 shootout loss) and had a 5 p.m. start because the NHL wanted to give the spotlight to its outdoor game in Carolina. The timing was tough for a Stars team who has won just two of the past nine games.
The Stars had two goals in the second period wiped out after reviews. Roope Hintz was offside on a Jason Robertson goal, and Jamie Benn interfered with the goaltender on a Wyatt Johnston goal. Those are tough outcomes for a Stars team who has been struggling to score.

"On both of those situations, the game probably changes [if we score], but you are going to have nights and you have to find ways to overcome," head coach Pete DeBoer said. "You have to overcome back-to-back, a tough schedule, some travel, an early start, and a couple of overturned goals. We have to find a way to overcome those things."

The Stars have been very close in recent games. They have lost by one goal to some of the best teams in the league, including Boston (overtime), Tampa Bay (final minute of regulation), Carolina (overtime) and New Jersey (overtime). So facing a Columbus team with the worst record in the league seemed like a real chance to find their game, so to speak. But the Stars continued to struggle with putting the puck in the net. Dallas fired 29 shots at Joonas Korpisalo but could only get one past the Columbus netminder.
Ty Dellandrea was able to come up with an unassisted goal, but everyone else on the team was stopped. Robertson fired a shot in the net during the second period, but Hintz was offside and Columbus challenged and won. Johnston also made a pretty play to score on a scramble at the net, but Benn accidentally clipped Korpisalo as he was skating past, and Columbus challenged again.
It allowed a first period goal to stand up for the Blue Jackets, and then Columbus won the game in the third period.
Dallas had a few chances to take the lead. Miro Heiskanen missed an open net as he chased his own rebound on the doorstep, and Robertson clanked a hard shot off the crossbar on the Stars' only power play.
The Stars have now gone six games without scoring on the power play, and they have scored two goals or fewer in seven of their past eight outings.
"We had enough chances, but the last pass, not shooting enough, stuff like that, cost us the game," forward Radek Faksa said. "It's hard to win with one goal."

It's especially hard for a team who was among the league leaders both in total scoring and power play success. Since Jan. 1, Dallas ranks 28th in scoring at 2.42 goals per game and 30th in power play success at 9.6 percent. That's a heck of a slump over 19 games.
"Sometimes it's like that for a few games, then you get a couple goals, and they keep coming," Faksa said. "It happens to every team in the season. You have a tough stretch of games. That's what's happening to us right now. We didn't play badly, but the overtimes and the shootout losses didn't help us."
And that's been the case for most of these games. They're not getting crushed, they're gathering points in the standings, they still sit 30-14-12, which is best in the Western Conference, but it just feels really frustrating.
DeBoer changed up some of his lines, putting Wyatt Johnston on the top line with Joe Pavelski and Jason Robertson and then Dellandrea with Tyler Seguin and Mason Marchment.
"I just think he has been great," DeBoer said of Johnston. "Maybe our best player the last couple of nights, and just trying to spark something. We've got some guys that are squeezing a little bit and feeling the pressure of either extended slumps or not scoring, and sometimes you look for a spark. We have shown we want to be as patient as we can, but eventually you have to try and change something up."
DeBoer has preached patience during the scoring slump, and he still believes the team has chemistry and can come out of the stagnation. That said, he also knows the frustration can get into their heads and force them to "grip the stick" too tightly.
Players say they understand the onus is on them to find a way to get back to better times.
"We have to stick with it," Dellandrea said. "We've been in contention with a lot of good teams and haven't closed out in overtime. We've got a tough schedule, but that's no excuse. We want to compete with the best teams and be the best. It's going to turn around, but that's a tough one."

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.