3 Stars: Just as planned, shorty like a melody, & finally out of gas in loss at Wild

The Dallas Stars finally ran out of gas enough to drop both points in a 5-2 loss against the Minnesota Wild at Grand Casino Arena on Thursday.

Of course, just as planned

What if I told you, as Sean Shapiro says…

What if I told you the Stars were outshot 9-0 to start the game, but led 1-0 as soon as they finally put a puck on the Minnesota net? Would you believe me?

Well, you should never believe me. But this was actually true.

Jake Oettinger was great early — is he ever any other way in his home state? — Making a few key saves on high-danger chances to keep the game scoreless. Dallas was swimming in its own end and not marking well around its own net. Oettinger to the rescue.

Then, just as I laughed that the shots were now 9-0 and tweeted this…

… Ryan Hartman did what he does best: take an unnecessary penalty, and the Stars went on the power play.

I am not going to take credit for calling this because if you have been watching the Stars, you probably called it too. But the Stars did exactly as I thought and scored another power-play goal, this time on their first shot of the game.

Minnesota had clearly been watching film and noticing that Wyatt Johnston scores a lot of power-play goals from the slot… Just like his honorable old man, Joe Pavelski, did in his day.

Random: Pavelski was inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame on Wednesday night, by the way. Jamie Benn, Wyatt Johnston, Colin Blackwell, and a few of the Stars staff were in attendance at the ceremony in St. Paul. Pavelski and the other inductees were honored during the second intermission of the game tonight.

Minnesota closed down on Johnston in the slot despite Mikko Rantanen trying to feed him multiple times. Knowing the way this Dallas power play has done things lately, I wouldn’t be surprised if they kept passing to Johnston to lull the Wild to sleep and find the backside pass. This power play is working on a whole new level.

Well, on that same backside is another guy who loves to score goals, Jason Robertson. And he did it once again. Robertson now sits third in the NHL with 20 goals. That is not surprising… Unless you watched how he started the season.

Shorty like a melody in my head… 34 times

Yes, I am going to use this throwback song every time the Stars score a shorthanded goal. Luckily, they don’t do it very often.

But tonight, they did. While on their way to killing off 33 consecutive power plays (now 34), the Stars penalty kill added one of their own. And it was a pretty simple play.

Faceoff win, Esa Lindell bumped it to Miro Heiskanen, and bang.

It didn’t look like there was much of a screen, and from the angles we had, it doesn’t look to get deflected either. Filip Gustavsson was not on his A-game, and this one didn’t look great for him. Even Heiskanen was smiling as his teammates joined him to celebrate a 2-1 lead.

Dallas had nine shots through two periods. Yet, because of some good goaltending and special teams, the game was tied 2-2. The Stars, once again, gave themselves a chance to win when not playing nearly their best game.

In the end, they ran out of gas

Dallas looked gassed in this game. Honestly, they have looked gas for quite a while. And rightfully so.

It’s likely the reason the team went from a Friday practice and team event to a complete day off instead.

The fatigue is really showing in some of the top players. You can see some mental fog and hesitation, and you can really see the heavy boots at times, especially backchecking to their own end. Just look at Robertson and Roope Hintz on Minnesota’s first goal.

I don’t think it’s a lack of effort — it usually isn’t — but there is certainly some fatigue keeping Dallas from playing in all three zones. At some point, that had to catch up to them. Turns out that was tonight in Minnesota.

Now Dallas has Friday off, a Saturday night meeting with the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, potentially a light practice on Sunday, a home game Monday, and finally two days without a game on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week.

Hopefully, it helps get the legs back. The legs do feed the wolf, after all.

Unfortunately, the game ended in more than just a loss.

It also ended with Hintz being helped off the ice after taking a Heiskanen one-timer to the inside of the boot. He was unable to put weight on his right foot, which, by the way, is not the same foot that Darnell Nurse slashed and broke last spring.

We will learn more about Hintz at morning skate on Saturday.