Heika’s Take: Stars bounce back behind full-team effort, destroy Devils

As Pete DeBoer likes to say, the Stars did what they were supposed to do Saturday.

Coming off their worst game of the year and facing a New Jersey Devils team that played Friday, Dallas scored first, played hard and took a 6-2 win. After getting outshot 43-15 against the Flyers, including 14-1 in the first period, they bounced back on Saturday and finished with a 36-31 advantage in shots on goal.

“It was a good response,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “We all know how the other night in Philadelphia went. We’ve always concentrated on our response when we haven’t played well. I think it was important to start quickly since they played last night. We did what we were supposed to do.”

Scott Wedgewood took the start in goal and was very good, allowing Dallas to overcome a few mistakes early and not lose confidence. Then, when the opportunities started to pile up against Devils goalie Nico Daws, the Stars made some nice plays.

“I just want to give the team a chance to win no matter what the story,” said Wedgewood, who was returning to play against the team that drafted him while also trying to help Dallas make a statement after a bad loss. “So I made the saves early and that settled the team down. Then we get up early and get back into our game. It’s always confidence from the bench if they look at me and see that I’m ready.”

DeBoer said Wedgewood set a great tone, especially considering the Stars are on a challenging road trip and have to play against the Islanders and new coach Patrick Roy on Sunday. Jake Oettinger, who faced 43 shots against the Flyers, will get that game, so Wedgewood really needed to make a statement.

“I thought he was our best player,” DeBoer said. “You’re getting into the really tough stretch of games here and you’ve got to play both goalies. That’s the kind of effort we need out of him when he goes in.”

Wedgewood moves to 13-4-3 on the season, tying his career-high in wins.

The Stars also got some great scoring throughout the lineup. Roope Hintz scored twice and now has 20 goals on the season. Joe Pavelski scored his 19th. Matt Duchene got his 15th and Wyatt Johnston his 13th.

“Our whole team was dialed in tonight,” DeBoer said. “It was a good, solid response game for us.”

Pavelski started the scoring on the power play, sweeping in a one-timer off a nice pass from Jamie Benn five minutes into the game. It was the Stars’ sixth power play goal in nine games without injured quarterback Miro Heiskanen. Both are important. Pavelski continues to defy age and remain one of Dallas’ top scorers with 40 points in 45 games, and the power play is finding a way without Heiskanen, allowing the star defenseman time to fully recover.

Dallas then added a shorthanded goal by Hintz on an incredible individual effort. Hintz had been relentless on the kill, getting a scoring chance earlier in his shift, and then made a beautifully skilled walk to the net for his 19th goal of the season.

Tyler Seguin and Duchene continued their newfound chemistry with a really nice shift of dogging the puck that ended up in Duchene getting a slam dunk goal for a 3-0 lead. Hintz then made it 4-0 late in the second period, converting a pass from Johnston for his 20th goal of the season.

Hintz said rebounding from the loss helps get the Stars in a better space.

“I think it’s mostly mental, but then you have to execute on the ice,” he said of the challenge of coming back from the loss. “But it starts with good preparation and being ready to play, and we were ready today.”

Craig Smith added his fifth goal of the season off a nice pass from Ty Dellandrea, who was subbing in for Mason Marchment, who was out with an illness. Johnston capped the scoring with one of the prettiest plays of the season, as he dipped between defenders and slipped a puck past Daws to make it 6-0 with 12 minutes left to play.

New Jersey chipped in two late goals for the final score, but the verdict was already set in stone.

And it was a happy one.

“I liked all of our game tonight,” DeBoer said. “But as much as I liked our game tonight, I disliked everything about our last one. We fixed all of the things we needed to fix tonight. We’ve got to go do that again tomorrow.”

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 Twitter @MikeHeika.