Heika's Take: Stankoven, Stars end road trip on emphatic note with win over Leafs

The Stars drenched themselves in the waters of Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday and ended a few droughts.

Dallas stopped a seven-game winless streak (0-5-2) against the Toronto Maple Leafs, while Logan Stankoven ended his 25-game goal drought with two markers in a 4-1 win. It was like a refreshing dip in Lake Ontario, as Dallas ended its longest road trip of the year at 4-1-0 and pushed its overall run to 9-1-1 in the past 11 games.

“It was a solid road game,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “We mismanaged the puck a little bit in the first, but I thought as the game went on, we got better, we got more detail and that’s how you have to play against them to have success.”

The Maple Leafs are 27-16-2, so this was the biggest challenge for the Stars on the week-plus Eastern swing. The fact that the lads in Victory Green now sit at 28-14-1 is a very good feeling.

“It was a nice road trip,” said rookie Mavrik Bourque, who scored a goal and finished the trip with four points. “I think finishing 4-1 on this trip was really good. The Leafs are a pretty good team, and I think we controlled the majority of the game tonight.”

Dallas did start slowly, bobbling a puck and getting down 1-0 four minutes into the game on a laser from Auston Matthews. But Stankoven was able to cram home a loose puck over the line a few minutes later, and that seemed to lift everyone’s spirits. Stankoven has been fighting the slump for months, and everyone knew it was building, so when a puck went from Sam Steel to Matt Duchene to Stankoven and then was just nudged in, it tied the game and brought a massive boost.

“It was a big goal by Stank,” said Duchene. “I think we drew a lot of energy from that. I think from there, we played a really good game.”

That tied things up, and then Bourque pushed it to 2-1 in the second period. Dallas was on a power play and a Thomas Harley shot was double tipped, first by Stankoven and then Bourque, and the Stars defeated another negative vibe. The power play has been hot and cold all season, but it got the eventual game-winning goal there, and ended up getting another in the game.

That was important, as top line center Roope Hintz went out with an upper body injury early in the first period. Hintz played just two minutes and did not return. DeBoer said the team would know more when it gets back to Dallas. The Stars have Wednesday off and play against Montréal on Thursday.

They received a bit of a preview of what might come when they rearranged lines and found success. The power play struck one minute into the third period, as Duchene made a fantastic individual effort. Sliding to the front of the net, the veteran pulled a puck between his legs and then slid it inside the left post for his 17th goal of the season. That made it 3-1 and pretty much took all of the energy out of the building.

Stankoven added his second goal of the game, on an assist by Duchene, two minutes later to close out the scoring. It was a poetic goal for the 21-year-old, because he had seemingly earned more than a few of those bounces on the 65 shots on goal he had during the drought. In this case, the 21-year-old made a slick redirect and sort of willed the puck in.

”You’ve got to learn to do it different ways,” said Duchene of the challenge for young players to assimilate the art of goal scoring. “You’ve got to learn to do it ugly and you’ve got to learn to do it nice, with good shots and moves. It can take a little while. It will click for these guys, they’ve just got to keep with it.”

Stankoven now has six goals and Bourque four. That’s a far cry from the big numbers they put up in the AHL or junior hockey, but it’s a start. Stankoven said he maintained the same approach to the game. He said he felt he was getting chances, and that they would eventually go in.

“The thing for me is I haven’t changed the way I’ve played,” Stankoven said. “Even though the puck hasn’t been going in, I try to hunt pucks and be good defensively, and do the little things right.”

He said he has talked to several people to help him navigate the slump.

“It’s tough at times,” Stankoven said. “A lot of chats with different people, my parents, everyone was really supportive. It wasn’t easy, but there are always better days ahead. Sometimes you have to sit back and realize you’re in the best league in the world, and you’ve got to enjoy it.”

The adversity could actually help the Stars down the road. Dallas is already without Mason Marchment (facial fracture) and Tyler Seguin (hip surgery) and will have to wait and see what happens to Hintz. Should they have to rely on the two rookie forwards a little more, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

“If Roope’s out for a bit, he’s going to have an elevated role, and we want him feeling good,” Duchene said of Stankoven. “It doesn’t matter how you get them, when you do you feel better, you make better plays, you’re looser, there’s a lot of good stuff with that.”

It was that kind of a night on Tuesday.

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.