"I think, obviously, the special teams needs to get better," said defenseman John Klingberg. "I'm on the power play and Carolina has done a good job in the four games we've played them, and we've got to find a way to get momentum and score against them. Our penalty kill would probably like to get a few goals back, as well. That's a big part of hockey nowadays, special teams, but I think that we need to create and spend more time in their zone during 5-on-5s. That's how you draw penalties, and I feel like we should play a little bit more with the puck."
That's part of the problem with a slump, though -- all the bad things stand out and any of the good things seem to get washed away. Roope Hintz had another great game, setting up Jason Robertson for a beautiful third-period goal. And Heiskanen made one of the greatest plays of the year, preventing an empty-net goal and pushing the puck up ice so that Pavelski could tie things up.
"We don't get that play without Miro," Bowness said. "He didn't get an assist or anything, but it shows his attitude. He never quits on a play and that's a perfect example of it. We don't get that point without him."
It was a huge consolation on a night that could have been really depressing.
"Miro made an unbelievable play," Pavelski said. "As we're all coming back, working, you're hoping for that opportunity. He read the play and knocks the puck away. We were able to get on the rush and make a shot to tie it up. We were talking all night that we've got to find a way tonight. We go down two in the third and there was no quit. We found a way to keep giving ourselves a chance."
It was a silver lining, for sure. It's just that when the Stars continue this homestand on Monday against Nashville, they'd sure like a silver outer coating in the form of a win.
"We're running out of patience," Bowness said. "We're not playing poorly, we're not. But we're not capitalizing on chances that we get. Give the guys credit because we fought back. We'll take the point, and again we didn't lose the game we just lost the extra point on the shootout, which is disappointing. But we've got to stop putting ourselves in that position where we're losing points."