Heika’s Take: Stars find a way yet again, beat Jets to advance to Western Conference Final

The Stars have been asked what their identity is, and it just might be “Find A Way.”

Dallas has been one of the top scoring teams in the league and has displayed multiple 20-goal guys for the past two seasons. It has been one of the best defensive teams and boasts one of the top goalies in Jake Oettinger. It has been great on the penalty kill and pretty darn good on the power play, too. It has been able to put up wins even when it’s not playing at a top level.

And all of that has been on display in the playoffs this season. The lads in Victory Green beat a highly-skilled Colorado team via a huge third period hat trick from Mikko Rantanen in Game 7 in the First Round. On Saturday, it dispatched a stingy Winnipeg bunch by out-defending and taking a 2-1 OT win in Game 6 at American Airlines Center.

It has been a year filled with adversity, and yet the Stars are moving on to the Western Conference Final for the third consecutive season - and doing it in a manner that deserves a significant amount of praise.

“I was proud of our group,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “We stayed in the moment, we stuck with it. This was a series where you were never going to feel comfortable. The offense was really hard to come by, there was no room out there. There were not a lot of power plays. World class goaltender. We stuck with it, stuck with it. I was proud of how we won that game tonight. A less mature team doesn’t win that game.”

The Stars could have easily gotten frustrated. The Jets had shut out the Stars in each of the past two games in Winnipeg, and had Dallas lost Game 6, the reward would have been a trip back to Manitoba in a winner-take-all Game 7. So, there was pressure. Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck, who will probably win the Vezina Trophy for best goalie in the regular season, but has struggled at times in the playoffs, looked to be back on his game. That meant that every minute Dallas went without scoring raised the frustration level just a little more – and when the Jets were able to get the first goal, the tension in the crowd started to ramp up.

Winnipeg center Mark Scheifele scored an emotional goal five minutes into the second period to give the Jets the 1-0 lead. Scheifele received news on Saturday morning that his father had passed away on Friday night, and he made the courageous and emotional decision to play in the game. That was a bonding force for the entire team.

“For him to go through what he had to go through, and perform the way he did, so proud of him,” Jets coach Scott Arniel said. “And his dad would be so proud of him. He wanted to win so bad. The circumstances, so, so tough. Being in a situation like that, I couldn't imagine it. The pro that he is, the leader that he is, the year that he had with us, his dad and his family would be very proud of him.”

The Stars had to fight through that emotion, and Sam Steel ended up tying the game five minutes later when he was able to pound a long rebound back into the net midway through the second period.

It was the first goal of the playoffs (and first since Feb. 28) for Steel, who has been an important depth forward and penalty killer all season long.

“You learn a lot about people in pressure situations,” DeBoer said. “Steeler has an unflappability. He rises to the occasion. I thought Mason Marchment did, too, tonight. He was exceptional for us. Just a couple of names, there’s a long list of guys.”

But that’s what this Stars team does. Colin Blackwell scored an overtime winner in Game 2 against Colorado, but he has been a healthy scratch since the return of Miro Heiskanen. Mikael Granlund stepped up and scored a hat trick in Game 4 after scoring just one goal in the first 10 games. Thomas Harley has been logging big minutes with Heiskanen out of the lineup, and has made himself into one of the top defensemen in the NHL.

“It’s always nice to chip in and when you go on runs like this, you’re going to need all of the lineup to score,” Steel said. “So I’m happy I could be that guy tonight.”

The third period was scoreless, mostly because both goalies played very well. Oettinger finished with 23 saves, including a couple of steals that allowed the game to go to overtime.

“Our goaltending’s been exceptional,” DeBoer said. “He just went head-to-head with maybe the MVP of the league, and what everyone is saying is the best goaltender in the world. And he probably was this year, in Hellebuyck. And he went toe-to-toe with him, nose-to-nose with him the entire series. Great, character gut-check by Jake. And he’s delivering at a real key time for us.”

That opened the door for the most unlikely of finishes. With both teams trying to create the game-winner in the third period, Steel was taken down by Scheifele on a potential breakaway with 15 seconds left in regulation. The fans wanted a penalty shot, but officials gave just a two-minute minor for tripping (the only penalty of the game).

Asked if he would have preferred a penalty shot, Steel said, “Maybe at first but it was probably a good thing. I was a little tired on the ice. The ice was bad. It’s good we got it on the power play.”

The Stars came out of the intermission and started overtime with the man advantage. Dallas created three shots on goal, the last of which was a quick release off the stick of Harley. Tyler Seguin dipped behind the net and made a great pass to Harley, who scored his fourth goal of the playoffs 1:33 into overtime.

It was the right play at the right time, and where have we heard that before?

"It's hard to replace a guy like Miro, but Tom has done everything,” Oettinger said of the fact Harley has been the team’s leading minute guy for the past three months to take the place of the injured Heiskanen. “He's been a workhorse.”

And that’s fitting for this team. Find A Way…they do it all of the time.

“You never take it for granted, and you realize how hard it is,” DeBoer said of finding ways to win in the playoffs. “When you get there, you want to make sure you take advantage of the opportunity. You hope you have enough gas in the tank, you hope you can stay healthy. All the same things apply. You gotta win some overtime games. Our special teams are going to have to still be elite. Our goaltending’s going to have to be great. I think our group’s matured through the journey we’ve gone on the last two years, and hopefully we can take that into this series.”

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.