Heika’s Take: Stars face perfect test to cap regular season, clinch West

As they have done for much of this season, the Stars did exactly what they needed to do on Wednesday night.

Battling through a tough goalie and a gritty game, Dallas took a 2-1 shootout win over St. Louis at American Airlines Center and clinched first place in the Western Conference in the process. They have home ice now through at least the first three rounds of the playoffs and will play the second wild card team because of their stellar 52-21-9 record (113 points).

That’s the second most points in a season in franchise history. The only season with more was in 1998-99 when the Stars tallied 114 and won their only Stanley Cup.

“Those aren’t easy games to play,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “Give St. Louis credit. They made us earn it. I’m glad it was that kind of game and not a blowout or an easy one. You want to play competitive games down the stretch and we’ve had a bunch of them.”

Jordan Binnington was fantastic in goal for the Blues, stopping 36 shots. Robert Thomas scored late in the second period to give St. Louis a 1-0 lead, and the Stars were pushing hard in the third period to tie the game. They knew if they could just take the game to overtime and earn one point in the standings, they couldn’t be caught by Vancouver for the best record in the West. Still, the Blues were not budging.

Finally, 5:11 into the third period, Mason Marchment worked to the front of the net, grabbed a puck and spun around to stuff in his 22nd goal of the season.

It was a huge moment for the entire team.

“We had a lot of scoring chances and that’s what’s going to happen in the playoffs,” said Jason Robertson, who scored the only goal in the shootout. “You’re going to trade chances. You’re going to run into a hot goalie. Our goal that we did score was kind of an example of what you have to do to score on a hot goalie and a really hard defensive team, so we’ve got to learn from that.”

The Stars have done a great job of learning this year. They wanted to have more balanced scoring and they finished with a franchise record eight players with 20 or more goals. They wanted to improve overall offense and they finished fourth at 3.59 goals per game (up from 3.47 last season). They wanted to be better in overtime and shootouts and finished 12-9 after going 8-14 last season.

“At the end of the day, it’s the difference,” Robertson said of missing out on the division title by one point in 2022-23. “I know that from when we struggled. If you can keep it .500 at least, you can put yourself in a good position.”

DeBoer said he too liked the fact that the team saw a problem, addressed it, and got better.

“I thought it was something the guys worked at and we came out, especially early in the season, and fixed it,” DeBoer said. “We really had some detail to our game in overtime. I’m just proud of our group.”

Oettinger was a big key in that process. He stopped two shots on goal in overtime and all three faced in the shootout. After struggling at times this season, the 25-year-old goalie finished on a 10-1-0 run with a 1.54 GAA and .941 save percentage. He made a diving save to keep the game scoreless at one point and then made a nifty save in overtime to open the door for the win.

When asked if this is the kind of game the team needed heading into the playoffs, Oettinger said, “Yeah, I think so.”

“We’re going to be in that situation a lot,” he added. “We’re going to play great goalies in the playoffs and they’re going to be low-scoring, tight games. [Binnington] gave us a great game and made us earn the point we needed.”

DeBoer said that was something the team rallied behind.

“I think we wanted to win the game, I thought the crowd tonight was electric. You want to give them a win,” DeBoer said. “I think it was important for our group to win the last game. We wanted to earn it and I think we did that all year. That’s a lot of points, 113 points.”

Now, they have to take that momentum and direct it toward the playoffs. As the top seed in the West, the Stars will play the second wild card team. Right now, both Vegas and Los Angeles could fill that spot. The Golden Knights are one point ahead in the standings and in third place in the Pacific Division. The Kings are one point back and in the second wild card. Both teams play late Thursday night, with Vegas facing Anaheim and Los Angeles battling Chicago. The Stars will play the team that finishes lower in the standings.

With Game 1 likely on Sunday or Monday, the players will get Thursday off to rest and recover, and then it’s time to get ready for the playoffs – an opportunity they have worked very hard for.

“It feels like we did what we had to do,” Robertson said. “It’s definitely an accomplishment that we should be proud of, but it’s not going to be any easy team whoever we play in the playoffs. We’re just happy we gave ourselves home ice in round one and gave us a good chance in the playoffs.”

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.