Heika’s Take: Slump continues as Stars fall short in overtime against Kings

Glen Gulutzan said earlier in the week that the process often comes before the results when you’re trying to break out of a slump.

That’s what played out on the ice on Thursday at American Airlines Center as Dallas had a much better overall game but still lost, 3-2 in overtime, to the Los Angeles Kings.

The lads in Victory Green were much cleaner in their puck handling and finished with a 58-48 advantage in shot attempts. In the end, they forced Kings goalie Darcy Kuemper to make some really tough saves. But the bottom line was Dallas was only able to score while on the man advantage and then lost in overtime when Adrian Kempe scored just 37 seconds into the 3-on-3 session when he cashed in on a two-on-one during a counter-attack.

“We were good in all departments except the most important one,” Gulutzan said.

The new head coach said the Stars had a big advantage in scoring chances at even strength but didn’t get a goal 5-on-5. That was huge as the two teams jockeyed down the stretch before heading into overtime.

“Five-on-five, we’ve got to find some scoring,” Gulutzan said. “We had a lot of chances, we out-chanced them heavily five-on-five, but we’ve got to find the back of the net.”

Jason Robertson, Wyatt Johnston, Mavrik Bourque, Roope Hintz and Miro Heiskanen each had four shots on goal, but Kuemper stopped 23-of-23 at even strength, and that was pretty much the determining factor in the game.

After losing three straight in regulation, the Stars were determined to have a good start. They did that with really strong possession, but couldn’t get the puck to the net. Mikko Rantanen then took a cross-checking penalty in the offensive zone, and defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin took a high stick on the ensuing kill.

That gave Los Angeles a 5-on-3, and former Stars forward Corey Perry scored on the doorstep with about a minute left in the period to spoil the raucous atmosphere.

Robertson came out on fire to start the second period and drew a penalty. He then scored on the power play to tie things up. However, about a minute later, former Stars defenseman Cody Ceci popped in a shot from distance for a 2-1 lead, and the Stars were back chasing the game again.

Heiskanen drew a high stick early in the third to put the top power play to work again, and the group of Robertson, Johnston, Hintz, Heiskanen and Rantanen went to work. Gulutzan has been leaning on the top power play unit in recent games, and did it again on Thursday. All five players logged more than six minutes in man advantage time, and the power play went 2-for-5.

“I think it starts with winning the draw,” Robertson said. “Centermen have been bearing down, breakouts have been pretty solid, and retrievals are a big positive for us. We’re not one-and-done, we re-hunt, reload and re-attack. We’re starting to gel.”

And all of that is a good sign. Still, the team is 3-3-1, and the expectations were higher than that.

“There are some positives, but at the end of the day, you’ve got to win,” Johnston said. “I think there are definitely some things we did well. You want the process to be right, but you also really want to win.”

Gulutzan said that is the challenge, as everyone tries to stay both patient and hungry.

“I would say they have the same mindset, but players get really hard on themselves for outcomes,” Gulutzan said when asked about processing the good and the bad. “As a coach, you try to take a little bit more [of an] objective view. We’re going to take those signs and build off of them.”

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.