Heika’s Take: Shorthanded Stars stand tall once again, outdo Oilers in shootout win

The more the Stars bathe themselves in chaos, the more they seem to enjoy it.

The lads in Victory Green took a game past regulation for the third consecutive outing, this time winning 4-3 in a shootout over the Edmonton Oilers at American Airlines Center.

Dallas allowed the first goal against for the eighth time in the past nine games. It got down two goals for the sixth time this season. It found a way to scratch back in a game where it was missing countless key players, including Roope Hintz, Matt Duchene, Radek Faksa, Jamie Benn, and Jake Oettinger (who backed up after the birth of his child on Sunday).

And while depth players helped squeeze points out of games against Tampa Bay and Florida over the weekend, the main stars stepped up in this one – Mikko Rantanen scored twice, Miro Heiskanen was a defensive demon and scored the tying goal in the third period, and Wyatt Johnston tallied three assists and the shootout winner.

Oh yeah, and coach Glen Gulutzan beat his old team in his first meeting with the Oilers since taking over as the Stars new bench boss.

“It was nice,” said Gulutzan. “It was nice to get the extra point, and then to get it against them, it was even better.”

Dallas moves to 7-3-3 on the season and is on a seven-game point streak (4-0-3). That’s impressive when you consider all of the injuries and the fact the team still is adjusting to the new coaching staff. The Stars once again went with a lineup that included 11 forwards and seven defensemen, because that’s all they have healthy right now. Casey DeSmith played in rare back-to-back games in net.

Heiskanen played almost 28 minutes, while Gulutzan had to rely on forwards like Rantanen, Johnston, Tyler Seguin and Sam Steel to play 23-plus minutes because of the necessary line juggling.

It was a gutty victory to say the least against a team that has bested the Stars in eight of the last 11 meetings (and knocked them out in two straight playoff series).

“It was an entertaining game,” said Johnston. “It’s not exactly how we scripted it. But you got to find ways to win . . . We’ve always been a team with patience and a no-quit attitude. We believe we can come back in any game. We just got to keep chipping away.”

The Stars have done that on several occasions this season, and Tuesday was the latest. Edmonton jumped out to a 2-0 lead seven minutes into the game, and that put Stars fans in a tizzy. On Mikko Rantanen Bobblehead Night, the locals were hoping for more, and they started to get it in the second period.

Rantanen drew a penalty and scored on the ensuing power play for his 300th career goal. Edmonton took a 3-1 lead seven minutes into the third period, but Rantanen came back a minute later to make it 3-2 with his seventh goal of the season.

Heiskanen then cleaned up a hard rebound off the end boards four minutes later, and the game was tied.

Dallas headed to its third consecutive overtime, and this time it made the right decisions. The Stars lost in overtime to Tampa Bay and then in the shootout to Florida. Remember, those are road games against two of the elite teams of the Eastern Conference.

The Oilers have made two consecutive trips to the Stanley Cup Final, beating the Stars each time along the way, so there was extra motivation in this game. The two teams are very familiar with each other, so Gulutzan put both Heiskanen and Esa Lindell out to go toe-to-toe with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl to open overtime, and the Dallas defensemen were sublime.

“I thought it was a great matchup for us, he’s our best skater,” Rantanen said of Heiskanen. “Not many guys can skate with [McDavid]. He’s world class, and he showed it there.”

Dallas had a 3-2 lead in OT shots on goal, but neither team scored, so the game went to the shootout. Both Robertson and Johnston scored for the Stars, and that was enough for the win.

Edmonton falls to 6-5-4 in the first month of the season.

“Obviously, it’s not ideal. You would really like to get the first goal, that would help a lot,” Rantanen said of the team’s tendency to play from behind. “But I think the group is really patient, even if we go down two. Even later in the game, we’ll still stick with it.”

And when you think about it, a little chaos can sometimes be a good thing.

“I think it’s going to get out of our system very soon, and when it does . . . the sky is the limit,” Gulutzan said.

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.