Heika's Take: Positive realism and the honest truth

The Stars are battling tooth and nail with some of the Eastern Conference's best teams this week, but they're coming up short in overtime.
For the second consecutive game, Dallas lost a 3-2 contest in the extra period, this time falling to the Carolina Hurricanes at American Airlines Center on Wednesday.

Despite the disappointment, Stars coach Pete DeBoer said he wanted to look on the bright side.
"Important points going into the break against good teams," DeBoer said of the single standing points gained on both Monday (against Buffalo) and Wednesday. "Unfortunately, it doesn't feel like great points, but they are, they all count. We're in a great spot in the standings and we're going toe-to-toe with really good hockey teams here and more than holding our own. So that's glass half full."
Dallas is 28-13-9 and in first place in the Western Conference. The Stars are currently tied for second in goal differential at plus-41 and are top-10 in scoring, goals against, power play and penalty kill. Still, the overtime bugaboo is a concern. Dallas is now 3-9 in games that go past regulation, and DeBoer said he thinks the lack of success there is getting into the heads of the players.

"I think the overtime thing is a little bit of self-fulfilling prophecy right now," DeBoer said. "We just don't have a lot of confidence for whatever reason in overtime, so we've got to find that swagger again."
Dallas was in possession of the puck at times but tried to force plays, which allowed Carolina to force turnovers. It resulted in the game-winning goal by Martin Nečas who worked around Stars captain Jamie Benn and whipped the winner past Jake Oettinger.
"I think the guys are squeezing it a little bit," DeBoer said. "They're not complicated concepts. You want to hold onto possession, want to be patient, you want to wait out the other team a little bit. And for whatever reason, we haven't executed at that time of the game. I think you need one in overtime, you just need one going the other way and feel good about it and hopefully build on it."
The Stars actually played a very patient game in regulation. While shot attempts were 55-32 in favor of Carolina, the best puck possession team in the league, the actual shots on goal were just 24-21 for the Hurricanes. Dallas dug in and played a tight game and created good scoring chances.
"You try to get on the inside," said forward Luke Glendening. "They do a good job. They're a heavy hard team and I think we are as well. It was a good game."

Rookie Wyatt Johnston finished with four shots on goal and lit the lamp first for the Stars. Johnston was in on the forecheck when he picked a puck off the stick of a defenseman and slipped it into the net for his 13th goal of the season. It evened the score at 1-1, and then Jason Robertson scored off a chaotic shift. He sent a shot on net from below the goal line that somehow squeezed in for his 33rd goal of the year.
Carolina tied things up on a big blast from defenseman Brent Burns which then became the end to all the scoring in regulation.
Johnston did have a shot that rang off the post and Dallas finished with a 9-6 edge in third period shots on goal, but they couldn't cash in.
"It's definitely frustrating when you get close and it doesn't go in," Johnston said. "But I think the biggest thing is getting those chances and building that confidence. I think if I get as many shots as I got tonight, ultimately the bounces will go your way."

DeBoer called Johnston the best player for the Stars on Wednesday and said he's been impressed with the progress of the 19-year-old.
"I thought he was our best player tonight, he was that good. And that says something against a team like that," DeBoer said of the 30-9-5 Hurricanes. "I thought he was fantastic. He's getting better every night. He looks quicker, he looks more confident, he's winning faceoffs. All the things we've talked to him about, he's kind of growing right before your eyes."
And that's part of the progress the coach said he likes to see. This has been a tough week, and it gets even tougher when the best road team in the NHL - the New Jersey Devils - comes to Dallas on Friday. But if the Stars can find a way to get two points out of that game, it will make the past two games look a little better.
"It was pretty tight checking, there was not a lot of room either way," DeBoer said. "I thought as the game went on, we handled their pressure a little bit better. They're as good as anyone in the league in putting that offensive zone pressure on you, but I thought we adjusted and we got better. Unfortunately, we don't get the two 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 Twitter @MikeHeika.