Heika’s Take: Stars rout Sharks to close trip, enter 4 Nations break on dominant note

The Stars got punched in the nose early on Saturday night in San Jose.

But the effects lasted just for a moment.

Dallas was down 2-0 three minutes into the game, but then rebounded for a dominant 8-3 victory that showed not only the offensive diversity of this team, but also the ability to rely heavily on the details that have carried it for much of this season. By overcoming a frenetic Sharks attack, the lads in Victory Green stormed into the 4 Nations break on a 6-1-1 run that puts it second in the Western Conference at 35-18-2 with a .655 points percentage.

“It was a tough start, but I liked our composure,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “There was no panic, and it didn’t take us long. By the end of the first, we were right back in it.

“We’ve got a good mature group that way,” DeBoer added. “Not everything goes the way you want all of the time, but we handled that adversity really well.”

That might be the main storyline for this team through 55 games. They have lost players like Tyler Seguin, Mason Marchment, Miro Heiskanen and Nils Lundkvist to injury, but continue to promote a “next man up” philosophy that is working very nicely. They have dealt with some scoring slumps from key players, but they also have preached a patience that has paid off to the tune of the eighth best goals per game total in the league.

Saturday was a great example. Matt Duchene had some hiccups after he lost linemates Seguin and Marchment to injury earlier in the season, but he has erupted for six points in the past two games. Against the Sharks, Duchene had two goals and an assist and was at the center of a pushback that was both aggressive and calm.

“The game is funny,” Duchene said. “You go through stretches where you’re doing the same thing and it doesn’t go, and then you take a shot, it hits a guy on the arm and goes in. That’s hockey. I think the thing I have learned in my career - and it took me a while to learn it - is you stick with the process. I’ve had some good bounces and obviously having [Mikael Granlund] and [Marchment], two guys I have played with, it’s fun.”

The recent trade that added Granlund and defenseman Cody Ceci was front and center on Saturday. The two players came from San Jose last weekend and then turned around and played against their old teammates. Ceci has been huge while the Stars try to deal with the losses of Heiskanen, Lundkvist and Ilya Lyubushkin (who missed the last two games with a lower body injury), and the addition of Granlund has helped put Duchene in a happy place. The two were linemates in Nashville a couple of seasons back, and the chemistry has returned quickly. Add the return of Marchment after he missed almost two months, and things are clicking.

“We got down two early, it happens, but we just bounced back,” Duchene said of Saturday’s performance. “We did it the right way.”

San Jose scored on its first two shots of the game, and that brought up some bad memories for the Stars, who allowed a goal 11 seconds in on Friday and lost in a shootout at Los Angeles. This time, though, Duchene scored three minutes into the first period, and the Stars dominated the shot clock en route to a 3-2 lead after 14 minutes. Jason Robertson and Marchment added goals, and Dallas never trailed again.

In fact, the Stars scored seven straight while Casey DeSmith was keeping his goal clean after the rough start. Duchene scored on a beautiful redirection of a Thomas Harley shot on the power play. Rookie Mavrik Bourque converted a nice pass from Jamie Benn. Wyatt Johnston scored his 16th goal of the season and Harley blasted in his ninth after that.

The Sharks found an opening to make it 7-3 late in the third, but then Benn walked in on a breakaway for his 14th goal to make the final score quite decisive and lopsided.

“We stick with our game plan and play good defense,” Benn said. “That’s what helps us create offense, and helps us win games.”

The Stars have been grinding to get these wins, so the break is needed. Goalie Jake Oettinger will play for Team USA at the 4 Nations Face-Off, while Esa Lindell, Roope Hintz and Granlund will play for Finland. DeBoer and Misha Donskov will coach for Canada. Rookie defenseman Lian Bichsel has been assigned to the AHL, so he’ll get more training and reps in the minors. The remainder of the Stars lineup will get some rest. While Seguin is not expected to return until the playoffs and Heiskanen is out “month-to-month,” Lyubushkin will likely be ready to play when the Stars open their post-break schedule in New Jersey on Feb. 22.

That means the guys who have been carrying extra minutes should be refreshed.

“We need it,” Duchene said. “We’ve had a lot of hockey, so this is very welcome. Old guys like me need it, and this team has done a good job of coming off breaks.”

It also has done a great job of minimizing slumps. Dallas started the three game road swing with defeats in Anaheim and LA, so getting a convincing victory was a great statement. They are still alone with Washington as the only two teams yet to lose three straight games this season.

“We needed the win,” DeBoer said. “We wanted to finish the road trip off with a win, we wanted to go into the break on a win. You don’t want to be sitting on a loss for two weeks. And we had lost two in a row - one was in overtime, but we take a lot of pride in not getting those extended losing streaks and stopping the bleeding - and we did that tonight.”

Even if they had to bounce back from an opening punch.

“It would have been easy to look forward, and the game could have gotten away from us,” Benn said. “But we did a good job.”

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.