Heika’s Take: Persistence pays off as Stars defeat Ducks

Persistence is a significant characteristic of winning hockey teams, and the Stars showed why Thursday night.

Dallas came out slow and was overwhelmed by a young and hungry Anaheim Ducks team that dominated the shot clock and took a 1-0 lead. However, the Stars stayed patient, bounced back and eventually worked for a 3-2 win.

The victory pushes the Stars to 2-0-1 on the young season and gives them a boost in confidence in a few key areas. The power play scored twice, the penalty kill remained perfect, and newcomer Sam Steel contributed an assist on the game-winning goal against his old team.

“It was important to win, that’s the bottom line,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “It’s early in the season and it’s not all going to look great. You have to give them credit, they were ready to play. I wish we would have handled it better, but Jake made some saves and I thought in the second we were a lot better.”

Goalie Jake Oettinger was solid yet again and has now allowed just five goals in three games this season. He stopped 16 of 17 shots in the first period, which allowed his teammates to catch their breath and reset. When asked if the team made any adjustments between periods, Steel said they simply played better.

“I don’t think there were a whole lot of adjustments, we just raised our compete level,” Steel said. “They came out hot and caught us off-guard, which is unacceptable, but we picked it up big time in the second and third.”

Troy Terry scored for Anaheim just four minutes into the game and it looked like the Ducks would add a few more as the Stars were on their heels. But Oettinger was spectacular and Dallas came out of the first intermission in much better shape.

Then, the power play finally caught fire and delivered two beautiful second period goals to give the Stars the lead. Joe Pavelski made a perfect pass to Roope Hintz and Hintz sniped a shot in transition to stun the Ducks.

“I was expecting that he was going to pass,” Hintz said. “I just tried to catch it and I could see if I did I was going to have a breakaway.”

Hintz said the power play relaxed and found its groove.

“We kind of tried to simplify the breakout and we got one there and then it got going, so that was good for us,” he said. “It’s good when it comes and you don’t have to think too much. It’s easier to play there. That was great.”

The Stars ranked fifth in the NHL in power play success last season at 25.0 percent, but were ineffective in the first two games this season. They looked disjointed in the first period on Thursday, but eventually found their rhythm.

“It’s been struggling a little bit in the first two and in this one, too,” defenseman Miro Heiskanen said. “But, of course, it’s great to get the first one and the second one too. It gives some confidence to us and hopefully we can keep it going.”

The second goal was a trademark connection between Heiskanen and Pavelski. The veteran forward had a patented redirection off a great pass from Heiskanen at the point to give Dallas a 2-1 lead just two minutes before the second intermission.

That seemed to be enough, but just as Vegas had done on Tuesday, Anaheim tied the game in the third period. Dallas lost the puck in the offensive zone, and 18-year-old Ducks rookie Leo Carlsson scored his first career goal in his NHL debut to tie things up. The Stars wouldn’t let this game get to overtime, however, as Steel pushed the puck up ice and fed Heiskanen for a drive to the net. The puck then bounced off of Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler and into the net.

“I had some time to skate it up ice and Miro was flying, so I just tried to get him the puck,” Steel said. “He tried to feed it back to me and we got a fortunate bounce, so a timely one for sure.”

The fortunate bounces come, it seems, when a team works hard to change the flow of the game. Steel played four seasons in Anaheim before moving to Minnesota last season. He signed with the Stars as a free agent in the summer and was a healthy scratch on Tuesday in Vegas. DeBoer said he likes giving players a look against their old teams, and Steel was in the opening lineup against Anaheim.

“Anytime you have a history with a team, it’s nice to come back and have some success,” DeBoer said. “We wanted to stick him in the lineup for that reason, and I thought he made a big play at the right time.”

The Stars started the road trip with a bonding stop in Palm Springs, and this capped the two-game journey off in a really nice way for a lot of players.

“It hasn’t been exactly super easy transitioning,” Steel said. “It’s tough learning a new system but it’s getting better and better and for the most part, I thought in the second and third our line had some good shifts and tilted the ice a little bit.”

Which is exactly how you collect points in this league.

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.