What the Stars revealed during a week of playoff-style hockey

DALLAS The Stars have played 55 games and officially cross the two-thirds mark of the season. The trade deadline is still a few weeks away. It’s that weird time when it’s deep into the season, but not quite at home. That means you start to peek into the playoff picture, even if you know you’re not taking it too seriously.

This makes the evaluation of the Stars last week interesting. It started last week Wednesday against the Minnesota Wild. Then came two straight games against bona fide Eastern Conference contenders. First, a match with the active dynasty Tampa Bay Lightning, and then against the best team in the league this season, the Boston Bruins. The results of these three games give a pretty accurate picture of the stars right now.

If the season ended today, the Stars would be the top seed in the Western Conference and host the Wild in the first round of the playoffs. Last week, Dallas took care of things with a pretty dominating 4-1 win over Minnesota. Should the Stars get past the Wild and into the Western Conference playoffs in the next two rounds, there’s a good chance they’ll face either the Lightning or the Bruins for the Stanley Cup. In those two games, the Stars suffered one-goal losses, 2-1 to the Lightning on Saturday and 3-2 in overtime to the Bruins on Tuesday.

There was good stuff. We played some really good teams this week, Stars head coach Pete DeBoer said after the loss to the Bruins. We were there. The Tampa game, we should have gotten points, tonight got a point. Obviously, everyone wants more. You want to be greedy and get two in these games. You can always learn something from them and the good thing is that we got a point against the best team in the league.

The recent installment of Stars has a cup half full and a cup half empty element. Some of the core elements of the team are still promoted. Against the Bruins, the top line scored two goals, including a beautiful sequence from Joe Pavelski to a quick cameo on Jason Robertsons stick before he slotted home on Roope Hintz’s stick. From the deep pass ignited by Colin Miller to the Hintz goal, it was fluid action.

Jake Oettinger was also there, playing in his 41 series^St game of the season. He is tied with Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck for the league lead in that gap, but has allowed nine fewer goals. On Tuesday, he went up against the NHL’s best netminder by save percentage in Linus Ullmark and took, if not the best, the entire game with some highlight reel saves.

You want to test yourself against the best in the league, Oettinger said. They’re a great team with a historic year, so it’s easy to get high in games like this. The game was fun, but two points were not scored.

Most of the Stars showed up for the game against the Bruins. The power play has been dormant since Jan. 25, the second of five 3-2 overtime games the Stars have played in the past two weeks. Dallas has come out on top in just one of those contests, a 3-2 shootout win over the Anaheim Ducks last week.

Failure to capitalize on overtime is much less of a concern than what happens on the man front. Three-on-three hockey can be weird and it goes away completely after the playoffs. The importance of the power play only increases as scoring chances diminish and games get tougher against quality opponents.

On Wednesday, the Stars showed off their power play. The power play usually means five-on-four, but if the Stars needed a push to end their dry spell, the Bruins gifted the Stars a full minute of five-on-three. Dallas failed to score, which would only be a surprise if the Stars barely managed to score in a two-minute span last week.

Five-on-three in regulation hurts the most, DeBoer said. It felt like it lasted two minutes. You have to put the puck in the net for them.

In overtime, the Stars were given an exceptional opportunity as they got two minutes on a four-on-three power play. The setbacks continued and it was only fitting that the Bruins ended the game shortly thereafter.

Since January 25th, the Stars have had 20 power play opportunities, which is tied with the Bruins for the ninth most in the NHL. The Stars have a 1-20 chance, while the Bruins are 0-2. It’s a reminder that even the league’s most dominant force can go through such a drought. The most important thing is that it doesn’t become a pit that the team falls into and can’t get out of.

Last year, the Stars played one of the elite power plays in the NHL during the first half of the season. They fell into a slump, almost exactly this time of year, and never got out. It cost them important games and probably a playoff series as well.

This season, the Stars have the luxury of building a big cushion in the standings where every game doesn’t feel like a playoff game. It allows the Stars to address their struggles more proactively, allowing DeBoer to try different solutions with less pressure. But that doesn’t take away the fact that these problems exist. They won’t happen in the playoffs right now, but if they come in April, the playoffs the Stars will be in are a short distance away.

Distribution of points

1G1A (Robertson) 1G (Hintz) 2a (Pavelsky)
March to Faxa Seguin
Benn Johnston Dellandrea
Studenic Glendening Gurianov

Heiskanen Miller
Lindell Hakanp
Suter Lundkvist

.919 save percentage (Oettinger)

Three plays

These three scoreless games stood out. This section is all about Oettinger and his performance against the Bruins.

Denying Bergeron

Two saves really come to mind when ranking Oettingers’ most impressive saves on Tuesday. Just for going against future Hall of Famer Patrice Bergeron, this gets the title of best save of the night.

Spotless recording

That save was also impressive, both for Oettinger’s composure in a high-pressure situation and for the point of the game, as it was at the end of the period.

Early saving

Stars came out of the gate very slowly. Oettinger kept them in it with a series of saves, starting in this right circle.

Bonus: Miro Heiskanen’s effortless racket work

This kind of play has become so commonplace for Heiskas that it probably doesn’t get as much love in this section as it should. But Heiskanen’s effortless way of breaking up plays before they even happen can be fun to watch.

(Photo of Jake Oettinger saving the gloves against the Bruins: Jerome Miron/USA Today)