Heika’s Take: Stankoven shines as Stars rout Kings in return to home ice

Pete DeBoer has been very straightforward with his depth forwards this season: You get what you earn.

The Stars head coach has been diplomatic in his deployment, making healthy scratches of everyone from Colin Blackwell, Sam Steel, Logan Stankoven, Mavrik Bourque and Oskar Bäck. So when Stankoven got the first scratch of his pro career last week, he didn’t take it personally. Instead, the 22-year-old rookie said he needed to be better.

He certainly was on Friday, scoring twice and helping the Stars to a 6-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings.

“He was due,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “He works so hard and he has ridden the roller coaster that a lot of young players in this league ride of confidence, and he stuck with it.”

The Stars played a complete game in the process, their best performance since returning from the 4 Nations break. Dallas went 2-1-0 on a three-game road trip through New Jersey, Long Island and Columbus, but looked scrambly along the way as they navigated a hectic schedule and a lack of practice time. Dallas played in a three-game California road trip before the break, had several players go to Montreal and Boston to participate in the tournament, and then tried to come back together on the east coast.

It was a challenge.

But after arriving back from Columbus early Wednesday morning and going through a full practice on Thursday, the lads in Victory Green looked a lot fresher on Friday. Dallas took a 1-0 lead four minutes into the game on Jason Robertson’s 25th goal of the season and then made it 2-1 on the strength of a four-minute power play later in the first frame. Matt Duchene scored a power play goal off a great cross-ice pass from Roope Hintz, who finished the game with four assists. Stankoven then scored just after the second power play expired, shoveling home the rebound of an Esa Lindell shot.

It was Stankoven’s second goal in 15 games, and it was huge not only for him but for the team. The Kings were pushing back throughout the first period, and getting a two-goal lead was crucial for a Stars team that was trying to ride the positive energy of playing at home for the first time since Feb. 2.

Wyatt Johnston scored on the power play to make it 4-1 (just the 13th home power play goal of the season for Dallas, which has scored 24 man advantage goals on the road), but then Los Angeles’s Trevor Moore cut the lead to 4-2 by the end of the second period.

But then Stankoven scored again to make it 5-2 four minutes into the third and the game was pretty much decided.

“I thought tonight he hung around the net,” DeBoer said. “Both his goals were kind of stop and inside, and LA probably defends that area better than any team in the league, so the fact he was in there and found some pucks I thought was great for him and great for us.”

Steel added a shorthanded goal to make it 6-2 and give the Stars three special teams tallies. It was a great game for Steel, as well, who also is battling to earn key minutes on special teams.

The game had its ups and downs. Duchene got hit in the face with a puck and missed the final six minutes, and Ilya Lyubushkin was in some distress late in the game with an apparent leg injury, but the Stars feel good about the recoveries of both. That means that Dallas is sitting in a pretty great place at 38-19-2 (78 points), good for third place in the NHL.

The Stars have three more games left in this homestand and are pushing hard to get their game to a good level. With Tyler Seguin and Miro Heiskanen expected to return from surgeries later in the season, and Lian Bichsel slated to return any day now from concussion protocol, there are a lot of positive signs. And if they can add an effective Stankoven to the mix, things look even better.

In addition to the healthy scratch, the talented forward also has been pushed down to the fourth line for long stretches. On Friday, he was on a line with Hintz and Robertson, and he definitely played well off the high-skill players.

“Yeah, it was nice to pop a few in,” Stankoven said. “I think I’ve had better opportunities to score, and they haven’t gone in so it’s nice to make up for a few tonight around the net.”

And as for playing on the top line? Well, that was an added bonus.

“It was great,” Stankoven said. “I love playing with those two. I think they both bring a different aspect to the game. [Hintz] with his speed and [Robertson] is pretty smart and can put the puck in the net. So, a lot of fun playing with those two.”

Hintz said he too felt good playing beside Stankoven.

“It was great to see that he got a couple of goals,” Hintz said. “He’s had so many good looks and there’s times it just doesn’t go in so it’s great to see him get a couple today. He’s a great player and he works hard. So, it’s fun.”

And that might have been the actual theme of the entire night. Come home and have some fun.

“I think you get a little more juice playing at home,” Steel said. “Getting back into your routine and I think we wanted to bounce back after that last game. Wasn’t our best stuff, but we got a mature group, so I love the way we bounced back.”

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.