Heika’s Take: Stars find way to come out on top against Senators

This whole season has been like a day at the fair for Stars fans, so why not mix all of the excitement and nausea into one night?

The Stars gave up two goals on the first two shots on goal and then watched No. 1 goalie Jake Oettinger leave the game with a lower-body injury. When all seemed lost, the Stars came up with another power play goal by Joe Pavelski, a beautiful tally by Esa Lindell, a shorthanded goal by Thomas Harley, and two scrambly scores by the Ottawa Senators over backup goalie Scott Wedgewood.

And that was just in the first 40 minutes.

Dallas eventually rallied back and took a 5-4 win at American Airlines Center in one of the stranger games of the year. Matt Duchene gave the Stars the go-ahead goal in the third period when he weaved through the offensive zone, whiffed on two pass attempts and then backhanded a fluky shot past Anton Forsberg.

“You pay for your ticket, you might as well get entertained,” said Wedgewood, who made 25 saves to run his record to 6-1-1. “That boosts morale after the last couple of weeks. We’re not in a bad spot by any means, but that’s a nice level up for the boys.”

Dallas entered the game in a 4-4-2 “slump,” and was looking forward to facing a team that was on the outside looking in on the playoffs. But Oettinger struggled early and the Stars fell into a quick 2-0 hole. He then went down awkwardly to stop a wide shot and appeared to hurt himself. He left in the next stoppage of play and is now out with a lower-body injury.

The Stars flew immediately to St. Louis for a game on Saturday and head coach Pete DeBoer said Oettinger is not on the trip and will be evaluated going forward. Wedgewood will now play on back-to-back nights. When asked what the challenge is for Wedgewood, DeBoer said, “Nothing.”

“Just do what he’s done. He’s been great all year,” DeBoer said. “We’re all comfortable with him taking this and running with it if he needs to for a little while. It’s a great luxury to have to be able to throw him in.”

Wedgewood showed that in the game. He had to come in cold off the bench with no warm-up. He allowed his two goals early, but then closed it down for the final 35 minutes of the game. That was huge, as it gave his teammates confidence and helped them push back.

Pavelski scored on a power play, Lindell picked a spot for his third goal of the year, and then Harley made what might have been the play of the game. The 22-year-old took a puck in the defensive zone and just flew up ice. He carried it all the way to the net and then deftly scored on his own rebound to make the score 4-3 with about eight minutes left in the second period.

“When I was growing up, I was taught that if you have the puck, you’re on offense,” Harley said. “[Radek Faksa] won the draw clean and it was clean up the ice, so . . . take it. I had a D on one side and a forward on the other, I chose the forward side and tried to get a puck on net and then take the extra whack.”

That brought life back into the building, and Miro Heiskanen tied things up seven minutes into the third period with his fourth goal of the season. Duchene followed less than a minute later with the game-winner. The veteran center was able to keep a puck in at the blue line, drive to the net, miss on a couple of pass attempts and then fling a backhand that deflected in off of a scrum in front.

“There haven’t been many of those bounces, so it was nice to get that one,” Duchene said.

DeBoer called it a hard-working goal for a hard-working line.

“He works for his bounces,” DeBoer said of Duchene. “He wants the puck every time he’s on the ice, he’s attacking the interior of the ice all of the time. He got a bounce, but he worked for that bounce, he fought off a guy twice at the blueline to get there.”

And that was sort of the game in a nutshell. It wasn’t pretty, but it was earned.

“Pete said after the first period that you have to find ways to win all kinds of games in this league,” Duchene said. “Coming out in the third like that, that’s the type of team we can be and we’ve got to demand that more. It’s got to be more consistent. We know how good a team we are, we know we can win any game we’re in. But we’ve got to make sure we’re ready to go and play more complete games.”

Dallas moves to 17-8-3 on the year, while Ottawa falls to 11-14-0.

“First off, it was a gutsy win by us,” DeBoer said. “There were different opportunities in that game where we could have lost 6-2, but we kept battling back and fighting back. We showed a lot of guts and a lot of character for two really important points.”

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.