Heika’s Take: Stars’ historic streak reaches 10 straight after rolling to 6-1 win over Flames

Matt Duchene has been on a bit of a heater lately, and he’s kind of taking the Stars with him.

Duchene tallied four assists on Tuesday in a 6-1 win over the Calgary Flames and helped Dallas establish a new franchise best winning streak of 10 games. In that span, Duchene has eight goals and nine assists for 17 points to lead the team.

“He’s playing good hockey,” said captain Jamie Benn, who has been on a line with Duchene and had a goal and assist on Tuesday. “You get in a groove and you’re feeling good and you’re getting your points. But the biggest thing is he’s playing good hockey within this game plan that we’ve been throwing out. We’re all sticking to it and it’s paying off.”

During the 10-game run, Dallas is outscoring its opponents 42-23 and dominating large stretches of games. Just as important, the Stars were allowing 27 shots on goal before the run and have yielded 20.9 during the run. That says a lot about how the team is playing “the right way.”

“I just think we have taken a step forward in all aspects,” Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said. “We’re just a little bit better in a lot of areas and it’s adding up to a big difference.”

After steamrolling a struggling Vancouver team on Monday, the Stars were expecting a big push from Calgary on the second night of a road back-to-back. The lads in Victory Green saw that early, but once again dug deep to find another gear. For the second game in a row, Dallas received a fluky goal early, this one a deflection off of Sam Steel’s stick that hit a Flames defenseman and went in. It was a heads up play by Duchene to get the puck to the net.

Calgary tied it up, but then Duchene set up Benn for a nice one-timer and that proved to be the game-winning goal early. Benn, Duchene and Steel have formed a solid line, and that’s been huge while the team is missing Mikko Rantanen (lower body injury), Radek Faksa (upper body injury) and Roope Hintz (illness).

“That line has been really good, even before the break,” Gulutzan said. “We put it together before the break, and they each add to it. Jamie has the big body and creates around the net, Sam goes and gets pucks and keeps them alive, and Dutchy, you can tell he’s making plays. He’s the offensive catalyst there.”

Duchene has been a high-end player since he was drafted third overall in 2009. However, he did just turn 35, he’s on his fifth team, and he’s logged more than 1,100 NHL games. So, if there was an indication of slowing down, it would have been normal.

Mix into that the fact he was out seven weeks with a concussion that he called one of the worst injuries in his career, and you can understand some difficulties scoring. In his first 15 games, he had two goals and three assists. Since then, he’s picked it up and now has 28 points in 36 games.

“You definitely get confidence from when it’s going well,” Duchene said. “You’ve got to ride the wave and I think as a line we’re doing a lot of good things.”

That has allowed players like Jason Robertson and Wyatt Johnston to handle the pressure of leading the scoring race, and it also has opened the door for players like Adam Erne, Justin Hryckowian, Nathan Bastian and Colin Blackwell to chip in.

“We’ve had so many guys come in and play unbelievable,” Duchene said. “Erne, Bash, Hryckowian, Oksar\] [Bäck . . .  Arttu\] [Hyry comes up and is playing really well. Blackwell has been a little energizer bunny for us, creating so much. Everyone is playing well. Guys are pulling their weight, guys are feeling confident and guys are feeling good.”

Bastian scored on Tuesday, so did Mavrik Bourque, and Duchene helped set up Johnston’s 21st power play goal of the season. That leads the NHL and is one short of Dino Ciccarelli’s franchise record for most power play goals in a season.

“I think we’re all buying in,” said Steel. “We went through a stretch where it was really hard to find wins, and I think that was good for us. It forced us to key into the things that make us successful and we’re doing that now.”

That has resulted in Dallas bouncing back from a rough January and moving into second place in the NHL at 38-14-9. Even more special, they will play the top team in the NHL on Friday when Colorado visits after the trade deadline.

“We know what we’ve got coming,” Duchene said. “These [6-1] games are fun, but we’re at the point of the year where we want our game to be in check.

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.