Heika’s Take: Stars’ slump continues in frustrating overtime loss to Canadiens

There was a time, for the Stars, when just enough things went right to get a win almost every night.

Right now, just enough things seem to go wrong each night.

Dallas lost a 4-3 overtime game to Montreal at American Airlines Center on Sunday afternoon to run its winless streak to a season-long five games (0-2-3). In that span, there have been some lovely moments of accomplishment (like Wyatt Johnston’s two goals on Sunday). Still, there have been too many areas of concerns (like yielding five power play opportunities against).

“Probably the biggest thing for me is that second period,” Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said of taking three penalties and getting outshot 14-8 in the middle frame. “You take [those] penalties . . . First of all, you lose a lot of guys momentum-wise, and then you give them an opportunity. Obviously, they go up 3-2, and then it's a battle back in the third. So, we do have to clean that up.”

In their past 16 games, the Stars put the opposition on the power play 52 times. They have had the man advantage 38 times. And while Dallas is among the best on both the power play and the penalty kill, that discrepancy is difficult to manage.

In an overtime loss to Detroit, the Stars gave up two power play goals. In a regulation defeat at the hands of Chicago, it was two more. On Sunday, Dallas killed four penalties, but gave up a key power play goal that gave the Canadiens a ton of momentum.

“We did a pretty good job on the PK, but we can only take so many penalties,” said forward Radek Faksa. It takes energy and momentum from us, so we need to be better.”

The game had its good moments. Dallas gave up the first goal but then tied things up on a great play by Mavrik Bourque. The young forward aggressively grabbed a puck in the offensive zone, drove the net and stuffed in a wraparound for his seventh goal of the season.

“I think I did a good job,” Bourque said. “I just have to stick with it, and I mean just keep gunning and my offense is going to come.”

While Gulutzan added, “I thought he was really good. I was actually trying to get him out there in 3-on-3 in overtime there. I thought he earned that. I thought he had good jump.”

Johnston gave the Stars a 2-1 lead when he scored a second after the power play expired, but that’s when Montreal took over the game. The Canadiens scored twice and appeared to be in complete control, but then Dallas rallied with a fantastic third period.

Montreal goalie Samuel Montembeault made several spectacular saves to keep his team in the lead, but then Johnston converted a nice pass from Miro Heiskanen and the game headed to overtime.

Johnston had a breakaway in the extra frame and was stoned by Montembeault, and then Lane Hutson slipped a shot past Jake Oettinger’s glove to end the game during a defensive breakdown in the Stars zone.

Dallas slips to 1-5 in overtime and is 4-8 in games that go past regulation.

“It’s hard to dissect overtime,” Gulutzan said. “We make a mistake off of a draw, but we had probably the best chance in overtime and if Johnny ends up scoring like he usually does, we’re not even having this discussion.”

But he didn’t…and they didn’t…and so the discussions will continue. Dallas heads out on its longest road trip of the season and might be without captain Jamie Benn, who suffered a facial injury when his head hit the ice in the third period.

The Stars sit 25-9-8, which is second-best in the NHL, but it feels the pressure to stop the current slump.

“We have been great on the road all season so far, so we have loads of confidence there,” Faksa said. “It’s time to step up. We didn’t play very well after the break, so it’s time to step up. The [Olympic] break is coming up really soon, so we need to finish on a good note before that.”

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.