Heika’s Take: Stars’ young studs fuel improbable comeback win over Sharks

That wasn’t at all how the Stars drew that one up.

But on this particular night, they’ll take it.

Getting down 6-3 to the struggling Sharks at SAP Center on Tuesday night was a frustrating feeling for a Dallas team hoping to gain ground on the Winnipeg Jets in the Central Division standings. In fact, one might say there was a feeling of hopelessness for a moment or two.

But the lads in Victory Green forged one of the best comebacks in recent franchise history and used historic performances from their two youngest players to take an eventual 7-6 win in overtime.

Wyatt Johnston had three goals and two assists, and Logan Stankoven had two goals and two assists to lead the way to an improbable victory that pushes Dallas back into first place in the division. Yes, the Winnipeg Jets have played three fewer games at 39-17-5 (83 points), but the Stars have 85 points at 38-17-9, meaning that, for now, they maintain first place.

"I think when you play an 82-game schedule, you've got to find all kinds of different ways to win games. 1-0, 2-1, 7-6," Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. "I think that's probably the only silver lining tonight, we found a way to come out of here with two real important points. Obviously, we didn't play the game we wanted to. You don't want to get in a shootout like that. That's not our game, but we found a way and we'll move on."

It was that kind of night. The Stars beat San Jose in a shootout in Dallas on Saturday, so they knew this team could be a problem. And despite the fact they once again dominated the shot clock at 41-20, San Jose was once again opportunistic. The Sharks scored first and kept scoring. Dallas matched the goals early and the game was tied 3-3 midway through the second period. But the Sharks then went on a tear and grabbed a 6-3 lead thanks to a 2-for-4 night on the power play.

Anthony Duclair had two goals and two assists for the Sharks and goalie Kaapo Kähkönen was good enough to keep the Stars in check, creating a feeling of missed opportunity for Dallas.

When asked if the alarm bells started going off at 6-3, Joe Pavelski said, “They went off a lot earlier than that.”

Dallas was playing sloppy hockey and that was frustrating. New defenseman Chris Tanev arrived in the afternoon and jumped right into the lineup. That forced some shuffling on the defense pairs and the Stars looked out of sync at times. Jani Hakanpää and Ryan Suter were placed together on the third pair, and they were on the ice for two of the first three goals against. What’s more, DeBoer was also shuffling his forward lines looking for chemistry.

Stankoven took some shifts on a line with Matt Duchene and Mason Marchment, and that helped spark some positive play. But when Dallas needed to really push back, DeBoer reassembled the line of Stankoven, Johnston and Jamie Benn, and that trio took over the game. Stankoven scored off a pass from Johnston to make it 6-4 with eight minutes left in the third period, and then Johnston scored off a pass from Stankoven one minute later.

Johnston then scored off a pass from Miro Heiskanen to tie the game with four minutes remainin and then in overtime Stankoven fed Roope Hintz for the game-winner.

Johnston posted his first career hat trick and became the youngest player in franchise history with a five-point game. Stankoven had his first career four-point game and has eight points in his first six NHL games. Benn had a goal and three assists, and Heiskanen finished with four assists, too.

It was a spectacular performance by some key players.

“We’re happy with the two points,” Pavelski said. “Big finish for the kids and it was an important two points at the end of the night. At times, it wasn’t pretty and there are definitely things we’ll want to clean up.”

Dallas has two days to work on things before back-to-back games in Anaheim and Los Angeles over the weekend. Getting some time for Tanev to adjust and for the forward lines to find their chemistry will be key. But at the very least, there was a huge boost of confidence on Tuesday in San Jose.

“We know that we can come back no matter the situation,” Johnston said. “I think we’ve proved that too many times this year, putting ourselves in that situation, but we have that confidence that we can come back.”

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.