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Thursday night was special for a lot of reasons.

On the one hand, the Stars were back home following a successful 2-1-1 road trip. Secondly, they had just two more games separating them from a well-deserved All-Star Break.

They welcomed in a struggling Anaheim Ducks team with an opportunity to move within a point of the Winnipeg Jets and Colorado Avalanche for first in the Central Division. And for a team on a 6-2-1 run, the odds looked good.

The game itself gave way to yet another roller coaster of emotions as Dallas scored early, fell behind and orchestrated yet another heroic comeback win (their 16th, tied for the NHL lead) in overtime on a beautiful rush by Thomas Harley for the winning tally.

But nestled between all of the flare was an underlying storyline: it was the first time goaltender Jake Oettinger and defenseman Miro Heiskanen had shared the ice together since December 15. In the previous 20 games, either one or both was sidelined due to injury.

Losing a number one goalie for three weeks in the heart of the season can be a backbreaker for many NHL teams. Being without a generational top defenseman for three weeks? It can be the difference between making and missing the playoffs for a lot of clubs.

But being without one or both for a quarter of the season? That rarely plays out in a team’s favor.

And yet, the Stars found a way to not only survive, but also surge in their absences. There was no panic. No knee-jerk moves or transactions. Just a veteran club finding ways to adapt their game in the face of adversity and succeed.

When Oettinger exited with a lower body injury in the first period against the Ottawa Senators on December 15, there was cause for concern. Dallas was in the midst of a 4-4-2 mini-slump and was struggling in the goals against department. Entering a long stretch against teams in the West playoff hunt, the Stars turned to Scott Wedgewood to carry the load.

“Just do what he’s done,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “He’s been great all year. We’re all comfortable with him taking this and running with it if he needs to for a little while. It’s a great luxury to have, to be able to throw him in.”

Wedgewood had only played in 29 games combined in his first two seasons with the team and was preparing for what could be at least 10-15 consecutive with Oettinger on the shelf.

He ended up playing a career-high 11 games in a row and posted an impressive 6-3-2 record. He made timely saves, was tidy in close games and gave Dallas a confidence boost.

“What do you say about him? He’s been great,” DeBoer said midway through the stretch. “This whole run, he’s been fantastic and that’s what we’ve needed from him. He’s going head-to-head and playing as well as some of the best goalies in the world.”

Meanwhile, the team in front of him upped their goal production from 3.44 per game to a league-high 4.15 during Oettinger’s absence. Their attack became even more consistent and balanced and gave the defense a nice cushion on a nightly basis. As a result, the goals against per game dipped to 2.92 and the shots against dropped to 26.5, 2nd best in the NHL over the span.

Then, early in the 3rd period on January 4 against Colorado, Heiskanen got twisted up in a collision with Wedgewood in the crease. The backbone of the Dallas defense over the past six seasons left the game and didn’t return. He, too, was labeled week-to-week with a lower-body injury.

Again, the Stars didn’t panic. Instead, while mired in their longest winless skid of the season (0-2-1), they persevered.

Dallas won two of the three games without both of their young talents before Oettinger returned on January 12. All in all, the team went 8-3-2 with their top goalie on the shelf.

And when it came to managing without Heiskanen, it was much of the same. The offense continued to excel, the goaltending gave them a chance to win and the team as a whole chipped in to fill the substantial void left by their “do it all” defenseman.

Harley was a big piece of that.

The 22-year-old defenseman was already piecing together an incredible first full season at the NHL level, but shifted into an even higher gear when the team needed it. In the 10 games without Heiskanen, his average ice time jumped from 18:54 to 22:57. 2:15 of that was spent on the power play and 1:11 shorthanded. He chipped in eight assists and was a plus-1 overall.

And while Harley took on a big chunk of the responsibility, it was a full committee approach on the Dallas blue line.

“You’ve got to be careful,” DeBoer said after Heiskanen’s diagnosis. “You’re not replacing Miro and we don’t want to put too much on Harls but he has some of those abilities and he’s still a young player. I think he wants that. I think he has the ability to fill in some of that but this is going to be by committee.”

Players like Nils Lundkvist and Joel Hanley, who had spent various chunks of the season as healthy scratches, stepped into a nightly role and performed well under increased expectations. Veteran Ryan Suter skated almost 19 minutes a game, posting three assists and a plus-10 rating over the 10-game stretch. And the pairing of Esa Lindell and Jani Hakanpää continued to provide a lockdown presence, especially on the penalty kill.

All in all, the team produced a 6-3-1 record with Heiskanen out. They averaged 3.90 goals per game and 2.80 goals against, while also performing a touch better on the power play than their season average.

“I think our entire team buckled down defensively in order to get through him out of the lineup,” DeBoer said on Thursday morning. “You don’t replace him, obviously. But I thought as a group, not just the defensemen but the forwards and defensemen, we paid more attention to detail in that part of our game because we were forced to. You miss him in a lot of different areas, for sure.”

When you put the last six weeks into perspective, you can’t help but be impressed. While facing a level of adversity that causes many teams to crumble into a skid, the Stars stayed above water and found a way to survive. That effort turned into a 12-5-3 record that steadily kept the Stars in a top 10 spot in the NHL standings and in the race for the Central Division title.

And now, Dallas is back to full strength and in search of its 30th win of the season before the break. Heiskanen looked like his old self on Thursday, posting a goal and a plus-2 in over 25 minutes of ice time. Meanwhile, Oettinger stopped his final seven shots faced to help secure the OT win.

The duo will play a pivotal role as always in the playoff race and subsequent playoff run, and the Stars are a better team with them back in the fold.

But by the same token, it can’t be stressed enough how impressive they were without two of their top stars in the lineup.

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

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