Heika’s Take: Stars grab “good point” to close out road trip

On one hand, the Stars picked up a hard-earned road point in Calgary on Thursday in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Flames.

On the other hand . . . rats.

Dallas received outstanding goaltending from Scott Wedgewood and a two-goal night from Mason Marchment, including his first penalty shot goal in the NHL, so there was plenty to like. But the Stars also held a 3-2 lead in the final three minutes of regulation thanks in large part to a video review that negated a Flames goal and still found a way to lose. So in that regard, there was significant disappointment in the postgame dressing room.

“We came away with a point, but we should have had two, so it’s frustrating,” said Wedgewood, who made 32 saves, including 11 in a scoreless second period where the Stars were outshot, 11-1.

Defenseman Thomas Harley added, “We got pretty badly outplayed in the second, and we were still taking on water in the third. We’ve got to be better at breaking pucks out, we’ve got to be better on the forecheck, we’ve got to be better everywhere. We got outplayed.”

Statistically speaking, the Flames had the better of play for much of the game. Dallas started strong and had several good scoring chances. Harley was able to pop in his fourth goal of the year off a nice pass from Joe Pavelski in transition to open the scoring, before Calgary got two goals. And then Marchment pounded in a rebound shot to knot the score at 2-2 late in the first.

The Flames then kicked into gear and started controlling the puck. The Flames finished with a 35-16 advantage in shots on goal and won the shot attempt battle, 71-53. At the end of the night, Calgary had twice as many quality scoring chances as the Stars, but Wedgewood held tight.

“They came heavy in the second,” Wedgewood said. “The penalty kill did a good job and I thought I held my ground and gave us a chance to get a lead and we took it in the third. I stayed in my lane and fought for everything and I was proud of that.”

Marchment came up with a great play on a breakaway to earn the penalty shot at the 1:49 mark of the third period. The big forward walked in slowly and snapped a sizzling shot past Calgary goalie Jacob Markstrom, and the Stars had a lead to protect. It was the first penalty shot goal by the Stars since 2019.

The Stars struggled to protect their lead at times, but Wedgewood was fantastic, and video coaches Patrick Dolan and Chris Demczuk came up with a huge call at the 14:52 mark. Calgary scored on a tip shot to seemingly tie the game, but Dallas challenged for a “missed stoppage in play” on a hand pass, and the review proved the Stars to be correct. That’s an unusual decision, and DeBoer gave full credit to the video coaches.

“Great catch by our video guys,” DeBoer said. “I didn’t see it originally at that time, so it was a big call at the moment and might have saved us a point.”

Calgary continued to push hard, and as luck would have it, scored on a flukey floater from MacKenzie Weegar at the blue line to tie things up with just under three minutes remaining.

“It was just an unfortunate floater that sails over everybody and goes in,” Wedgewood said. “It was kind of a weird one.”

The game then went to overtime, and Nazem Kadri knocked a puck in for the game-winner. Kadri’s stick hit Wedgewood’s glove, so there was a league review, but the contact was deemed insignificant and the goal stood.

The Stars move to 13-5-3 on the season, good for 29 points. They begin a run of five games in six on the road with three points in the standings and now return home for an afternoon game with Tampa before heading back on the road for three more.

“It’s a good point,” DeBoer said after his team won in Winnipeg on Tuesday. “This is a tough trip. You’ve got three of four points against two tough teams in two tough buildings. We would have liked to have two, I’m disappointed we didn’t shut that down and finish that off, but three of four on this trip you’ll take all day long.”

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.