Heika’s Take: Mistakes pile up as Stars lose late lead, fall to “hungrier” Penguins

The mistakes caught up with the Stars on Saturday.

Dallas has been able to outplay its errors for the past few weeks, thanks to great goaltending and timely scoring, but the Pittsburgh Penguins put an end to that in a 5-3 win at American Airlines Center.

Dallas had a 3-2 lead in the third period, but then two turnovers in the defensive zone were too much for goalie Casey DeSmith, who was outstanding against his old team. The goals by Bryan Rust and Blake Lizotte gave Pittsburgh the lead, and Sidney Crosby finished off his hat trick with an empty-net goal for the final tally.

“Just disappointed,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “I thought they were a hungrier team than us tonight which I thought shouldn’t be the case but, I just thought from the faceoff battle to individual puck battles they were just a little hungrier than we were.”

The Stars have been able to come up with huge moments in previous games, like a four-goal third period against Nashville on Thursday. And, in a lot of ways, they had the right formula to win against the Penguins. DeSmith was fantastic in frustrating the Penguins and keeping it a 2-1 game after two periods. Even when Pittsburgh tied the game early in the third, it looked like Dallas would get to overtime or win on the strength of its depth scoring.

Veteran forward Evgenii Dadonov had just the second hat trick of his career and gave the Stars a 3-2 lead in the third off a smart play around the net. Defenseman Thomas Harley worked hard to get the puck to the front of the crease and Dadonov was able to convert for his 19th goal of the season.

“I thought he was great,” DeBoer said. “That’s what we need, that depth scoring. He’s given us that all year. What does he have? 18 goals? Which is a fantastic year for him. So, I thought he was great.”

The Stars were outshot 40-24 and the shot attempts were 76-47 in favor of the Penguins. That’s been a theme for the past few weeks, as Dallas is either making too many mistakes or simply not making enough good plays. The Stars get hemmed in their own end a lot, and on this day it really hurt.

“Turning the puck over less will be good,” Harley said when asked about the problems of surrendering so many shots against. “Defending better and boxing out better, and taking away second chance opportunities, and being harder on pucks.”

Harley took responsibility for the game-winning goal, but it was a team problem. He turned the puck over after colliding with Cody Ceci near the Stars bench and then was unable to recover in time to stop Lizotte’s shot.

“I tried to outskate their F1, and he got a body on me, and I lost the puck as I was going to take it, and me and Ceci ran into each other,” Harley said. “It was a lack of communication on that one, and then I go and play the two-on-one (badly). My job is to take away the pass and I let them have it. Sorry, Casey.”

Harley wasn’t alone in making mistakes. On the tying goal, Ilya Lyubushkin lost an edge and turned a puck over behind the Stars goal. Crosby fed Rust to tie things up eight minutes into the third period. DeSmith was able to fend off some great chances, but then the Harley-Ceci collision gave Pittsburgh another wide-open look.

“We left some good players in some really good spots, and they capitalized on it,” DeSmith said. “Hopefully it’s a learning experience. Just get better holding onto leads going into playoffs.”

Harley said he felt bad for DeSmith, who played well.

“That one hurt,” Harley said. “For Case to play such an unbelievable game and to give it away the way I did, it’s tough.”

Harley has been leading the team in time on ice since a knee injury to Miro Heiskanen and has been playing very well. DeBoer said he will talk to the 23-year-old to help handle the disappointment.

“We ask him to do a lot for us, especially with Miro out,” DeBoer said. “I want to make sure he’s not too hard on himself. You’re going to make mistakes when you’re asked to do as much as we ask him to do.”

The Stars had won seven games in a row, so the loss is far from crippling. That said, Winnipeg remains four points ahead in the standings, though Dallas (50-22-4) still has a game in hand after the Jets lost at Utah on Saturday night.

“We are trying to catch Winnipeg, and they don’t lose a lot of games,” DeSmith said. “So, every loss that we have stings a little bit more this late in the year. We don’t have a lot of time left to catch them, but hopefully it is a learning experience to get better at holding onto leads going into the playoffs.”

The Stars turn around and play at Minnesota on Sunday, and that might be the best thing, Harley said.

“We’ll wash this one and get back to it,” Harley said.

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.