Heika's Take: A devastating blow

What's the old Mike Tyson line?

Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.

The Stars were in the middle of executing a competitive plan against the Seattle Kraken on Sunday in Game 3 of their best-of-seven series when defenseman Miro Heiskanen was hit in the mouth by a puck. It might as well have been a sock on the chin to the collective Stars' psyche, because they were sent reeling for several minutes and eventually found their way to a losing score of 7-2.

The absence of Heiskanen was significant, as the 23-year-old defenseman went into the game leading all skaters in playoff time on ice. But the reaction by his teammates was the real story, as Dallas had several defensive breakdowns and goalie Jake Oettinger was unable to stop the bleeding.

"It was obviously a big piece, but that's not why we lost," Stars coach Pete DeBoer said of the Heiskanen injury that knocked him out of the game, 2:10 into the second period. "That's on our group. We should be able to handle that adversity and respond to that. They were the better team tonight. No ifs, ands, or buts about that."

Seattle rookie Tye Kartye flung a hard shot that caught Heiskanen by surprise and dropped him to his knees. Jordan Eberle then cleaned up the rebound for a 1-0 lead. Heiskanen went directly to the dressing room and did not return. Seattle then took over, scoring three goals in five minutes.

Dallas was a bit of a mess in all manner of ways. Dallas defensemen Esa Lindell and Jani Hakanpää got beat in transition for an Alex Wennberg goal at the 3:36 mark of the second. Carson Soucy then walked around Mason Marchment and slipped a shot between Oettinger's pads at the 6:30 mark. The entire team defense broke down as Matty Beniers was able to walk in and snap a shot past Oettinger at the 8:22 mark for a 4-0 lead.

Dallas got one back on a Marchment one-timer off a nice pass from Evgenii Dadonov, that cut the deficit to three goals, but Eeli Tolvanen was able to score on a rebound that was punched back by Oettinger in the final minute of the period. That capped off five goals on eight shots in the second period and eventually led to the pulling of Oettinger after the second intermission.

"It's not like we were playing great, and Jake was letting in goals,'' DeBoer said when asked if he thought about pulling Oettinger earlier in the game. "I thought our whole group was off tonight. We didn't stop the bleeding. We gave up all kinds of opportunities. We should be able to handle adversity better than that.''

Stars captain Jamie Benn said nobody needed to say anything to Oettinger, who had one of his worst performances with five goals against on 17 shots.

"He's a professional, we really didn't help him out at all," Benn said. "He'll be fine, he'll bounce back. He's a great goaltender, that's what they do."

Scott Wedgewood came on in relief and allowed two goals on eight shots, so the defense continued to struggle without Heiskanen. DeBoer said that Heiskanen expressed interest in returning to the game, but by the time the team could look at that possibility, the score was 5-1.

"I think he would have liked to have come back," DeBoer said. "We talked about it, but for sure the score played a part in [that decision]."

The potential return of Heiskanen seems to speak well on his health for Game 4, but the team will make that decision before Tuesday. In the meantime, they will have to wash the bad memories away and focus on some good ones.

"The good news is it mirrors our Game 3 in Minnesota," DeBoer said of a 5-1 loss that was followed by three straight wins. "We were in the exact same spot and then responded the right way in that series. So, we've got to make sure that happens here."

The Stars have had honest assessments after losses during the season, and the evaluation already started taking place in the postgame dressing room.

"Other guys got to step up," Benn said. "Personally, I think I was probably one of our worst players. We'll fix it. We'll move on."

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Video: DeBoer on not responding to Seattle's first goal is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter Video: DeBoer on not responding to Seattle's first goal