Heika’s Take: Stars “find a way” in first game without Heiskanen, beat Canucks

The Stars weren’t great on Friday night.

And, yet, they kind of were.

Playing in their first game since losing Miro Heiskanen to injury and facing a Vancouver Canucks team that was just shaken up by a big trade, Dallas had some holes in its game. It was outshot, 29-16 and put the Canucks on the power play five times, but the Stars got a great performance from goalie Jake Oettinger as well as their fourth line, cashed in on a big power play in the second period, and battled through a chaotic final five minutes to take a 5-3 win.

“We found a way,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “I thought our special teams were really good, the goalie was good. I thought the first two periods, we stood around a little too much, we didn’t spend enough time in the offensive zone and spent too much time in our own end. But you’ve got to win all kinds of different ways in this league, and I thought our special teams gave us life, and I thought Jake was really solid.”

The Stars move to 33-17-1, winning their fourth game in a row. Dallas is 14-4-1 in its past 19 games, the best record in the league during that span. They accomplished it while missing Tyler Seguin (hip surgery), and Mason Marchment (face surgery), as well as stretches without Roope Hintz and now Heiskanen and Nils Lundkvist.

Dallas has had to adjust to a lot of challenges, beating Vegas on Tuesday in overtime after losing Heiskanen to a lower body injury. The team’s leading minute man was hit in the knee by the helmet of Vegas captain Mark Stone and is out “week-to-week” while he gets the injury checked out. That forced some changes on defense.

On Friday, Kyle Capobianco stepped up from the minors and played 11:23. That meant the rest of the “D” had to take up big minutes to fill in for Heiskanen. Esa Lindell led the way with 26:03, Thomas Harley logged 24:17, Ilya Lyubushkin played 21:01, rookie Lian Bichsel had 19:06 and Matt Dumba played 16:51. It was a challenge for the Stars, who started slow and played a lot in their own end.

“It felt different without him, but I think as a group we can kind of fill his spot,” said Lindell, who will likely carry a lot of Heiskanen’s minutes going forward. “No one can do what he does, so we can all improve a little bit, that way we can be better as a team.”

Lindell obviously took that to heart, playing almost eight minutes on the penalty kill and helping Oettinger hold the fort. Mix in the strong defensive play with some great energy shifts from the fourth line, and Dallas had a 1-0 lead 10 minutes into the game. The trio of Colin Blackwell, Brendan Smith and Oskar Bäck had a relentless forecheck that ended with Blackwell feeding Bäck out front, and that was the kind of play that allowed the Stars to maintain control in a hectic game.

Vancouver had an 11-3 advantage in shots on goal in the second period and tied things up on a Conor Garland goal five minutes into the middle frame. But just when it seemed Dallas might get overwhelmed, the power play came up big. Wyatt Johnston drew a tripping penalty and then was the middle man on a tic-tac-toe play from Matt Duchene to Johnston to Jason Robertson for the go-ahead goal. It was the right play at the right time.

“I think it took us a little while to get into the zone, but just making plays,” Robertson said. “Johnny made a nice pass to me and we were able to spread it out. Tonight was a game where special teams made a big difference, and hopefully built on our power play and obviously our PK is top of the league and excellent.”

It has been good during the winning stretch, but so has everything else. Oettinger is 10-2-1 in the stretch with a 2.14 GAA, and that’s been huge.

“We can play a lot better than that game, but Jakey gave us a chance, and then we played well in the end,” said Lindell.

Robertson found Hintz on a breakaway four minutes into the third period, and that gave Dallas a 3-1 lead and forced the Canucks to try a few things. Vancouver pulled the goalie when it had a power play with just under four minutes remaining. Hintz scored a shorthanded empty-net goal almost immediately to make it 4-1. Vancouver then scored on the power play to make it 4-2, and pulled the goalie again. Robertson chipped in the second empty-netter of the game and then Oettinger allowed a goal with four seconds left for the 5-3 final.

That said, it was a pretty happy dressing room afterward.

“We’ve got to have some different formulas here to win games without him out there,” DeBoer said of Heiskanen. “You take him for granted. All the situations he plays in and all the great plays he makes defensively and offensively. So, big shoes to fill, and we’re going to have to do it by committee and different ways. And tonight, like I said, it was special teams and goaltending, and I thought we buckled down in the third and played a good period.”

In fact, it was kind of great.

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.