Heika’s Take: Stars continue impressive efforts, come up short vs Rangers

Even in their losing streaks, the Stars are playing some good hockey.

Dallas lost a 3-1 game at the New York Rangers on Tuesday for just its second run of three consecutive losses this season. But two of the defeats were in overtime, and one could argue the Stars were the better team in all three games. Dallas had a 42-26 advantage in shots on goal and a 74-56 edge in shot attempts, but Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin was spectacular and took home the win.

“It’s a back-to-back game and it was 2-1 to the end,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “I thought we out-chanced them, we outshot them, and we did some good stuff considering the situation. I thought their goalie was the best player and I thought our goalie [Scott Wedgewood] was really good too. Considering the back-to-back, I was pretty proud of the fact that we played right to the buzzer and gave them everything they could handle.”

The Stars have been without defensemen Jani Hakanpää and Nils Lundkvist because of injuries, and have had to make adjustments in the past three games. Miro Heiskanen missed Monday’s game at Boston for the birth of his child, but returned Tuesday and played well.

Still, there has been lineup juggling and adjustments that have created possible distractions, and the Stars have fought through them. Center Matt Duchene missed Monday’s game with a lower body injury and Dallas played with 11 forwards in a 4-3 shootout loss at Boston. To be cautious, the team called up top prospect Logan Stankoven, and there was a buzz about him possibly making his NHL debut. However, Duchene was able to play, and Stankoven was returned back to Texas.

Jake Oettinger played on Monday and Wedgewood played on Tuesday, and the Stars received good goaltending from both and had a chance to win two games.

”I think we’re actually playing pretty good,” captain Jamie Benn said. “Last night was a great effort. Tonight, probably not for 60 minutes, but we had a chance to win that game and it just didn’t happen.”

Both Benn and Tyler Seguin had close chances to tie the game near the end, but both were stoned by Shesterkin. It was just like in Boston, where goalie Jeremy Swayman stopped 43 of 46 shots, including several good chances by Seguin in overtime.

“Seguin and Benn both had point blank at the end, we had a few there,” DeBoer said of the chances on Tuesday against the Rangers. “You have to give them credit, he was really good, but you know that going in. You know he’s one of the best in the league. So you’ve got to get some more traffic, you’ve got to make it more difficult on him and find a way. But we created enough chances to score more than one goal tonight.”

That’s a lesson the Stars will embrace going forward as they have two more stops on this four-game road trip in Ottawa and Carolina. Dallas was on a 7-1-1 run before this little skid, so they know they are doing a lot of good things as they sit 34-15-8, good for 76 points and fifth in the league standings.

“We’re sticking with the game plan here,” Benn said.

DeBoer shuffled his lines again, putting Wyatt Johnston on the top line with Roope Hintz and Jason Robertson, and moving Joe Pavelski to a line with Benn and Sam Steel. That will be something to watch going forward. One thing that could use a boost is the power play, which has looked out of sorts at times over the recent skid.

“It’s been a little too slow right now,” said Heiskanen, who scored on the power play. “Play a little more simple. I think we were trying to do too much at some points.”

In recent games, the Stars have given up a few shorthanded chances against and have been bailed out by the power play.

“It’s got to be a momentum swing, at the least,” Benn said. “If we’re not  scoring, we need to feel good about ourselves and get some momentum. Especially on the road, every power play is huge.”

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.