Heika’s Take: Stars step in quicksand against Ducks, lose first game at AAC this season

The Stars stepped in some quicksand at American Airlines Center on Monday night.

The problem is there was a sign right out in front.

After playing a detailed game against a heated rival on Saturday in Minnesota and picking up a valuable win, Stars players and coaches warned that a home contest against the Anaheim Ducks could be a “trap game.” After all, the Ducks are rebuilding and sit 26th in the NHL standings.

But Anaheim was able to get a couple of hard-working goals early, taking an eventual 3-0 lead, and then held on for a 4-2 win that gave Dallas its first loss at AAC this season.

“It doesn’t matter who you are playing if you’re going to spot the other team three goals. This is too good a league to do that and expect to come back,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “Tough loss, obviously, coming off a well-played Minnesota game on the road. It’s not the kind of effort we were looking for.”

Olen Zellweger scored off a faceoff play in the first minute of the game, and that was the first step on unsteady ground for the lads in Victory Green. That was the fourth goal of the year for the 21-year-old defenseman, but it was aided when Ducks forward Troy Terry tapped the glove of Stars goalie Casey DeSmith just before the puck arrived. DeBoer said they thought about challenging, but didn’t think the goal would be overturned.

Anaheim then grabbed the momentum and started putting Dallas in a hole. The Ducks had a 7-1 lead in shots on goal at one point and Brett Leason made it 2-0 six minutes into the game. Leason’s goal came in transition as he walked around defenseman Brendan Smith and then snapped a shot past DeSmith to the far post. DeSmith’s last start was in Finland, and while he cleaned up in Winnipeg on Nov. 9, this still was a challenging appearance.

“That’s a tough job being a backup goalie, because you’re not playing very often,” DeBoer said. “But this one is not on him. We’ve got to give him more support than that. He shouldn't be looking at 2-on-1s five minutes into the game. That’s on our group.”

On the other end of the ice, 24-year-old Lukáš Dostál looked fantastic. The nimble Czech stopped 34 shots to move to 5-6-2 on the season. Dallas had several great scoring chances, including breakaways for Ilya Lyubushkin and Tyler Seguin that clanged off the crossbar, and a couple of solid shots from Roope Hintz.

“The whole first period was played in the neutral zone,” said forward Matt Duchene. “Our execution was off. We weren’t really able to get in their end where we are a dangerous team. So, you go down 2-0 and they make you pay on the power play and it’s 3-0 before you can really get your game going. That’s why you don’t just play them on paper and chalk up the two points. They are a hard-working team. They have some talent and their goaltender made some big saves when they needed them tonight. So, a good little reminder for us.”

As it has been at times this season, the offense just wasn’t clicking.

Dallas finished with a 36-27 advantage in shots on goal and an 85-48 edge in shot attempts. As much as there was a slow start to the game, the Stars had a good response. Mavrik Bourque made a nice play to Esa Lindell early in the third period to make the score 3-1. And then Duchene mixed relentless mental drive with incredible skill to make the score 3-2 with eight minutes left.

The arena was buzzing and it really seemed like the Stars were poised to complete a comeback.

But then Anaheim was able to get a nice play at the net and will in the safety net goal with five minutes left.

“Quite a poor game from us,” said Lindell. “We started slow, they got the lead, I think we chased in the first two periods, did a little better in the third, but it’s tough when you’re behind.”

Dallas falls to 11-6-0 (22 points), third in the Central Division. Anaheim moves to 7-8-2 (16 points), seventh in the Pacific.

The San Jose Sharks come to Dallas for a Wednesday game, and there will be another sign out front warning of quicksand. Dallas has all sorts of reasons to be uneven, including a weeklong trip to Finland and a compressed schedule, but that is the hand they have been dealt, and they need to make the most out of it.

“That Finland trip we all knew that we’re going to pay for that, but at the same time, you’ve got to figure out ways to get it done,” Duchene said. “We’ve got to make sure we’re crossing t's and dotting i's and making sure we don’t lose games like that. Again, give them credit, they are a talented team with a good goaltender. They played well. They played a good hockey game and there’s two teams out there trying to win. But if we bring our A-game, that’s a game we likely win.”

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.