The Dallas Stars left the busiest hockey night of the year without a win, falling 3-2 to the Colorado Avalanche, but there were still a few clear positives to pull from the loss.
The biggest surprise came before the opening puck drop: Wyatt Johnston missed the first game of his entire NHL career because of an illness. That forced Dallas to reshuffle its second line, with Sam Steel moving up alongside Mikko Rantanen and Justin Hryckowian.
Steel didn’t look overwhelmed by the jump. He gave the Stars their first quality chance of the night with a hard drive to the net that tested a cold Mackenzie Blackwood, and he finished second on the team in expected goals.
That kind of contribution matters even more with Matt Duchene sidelined for the next three months because of a core muscle injury. Steel, who signed a four-year, $14.8 million contract in September, is suddenly in line for a key role in the middle six.
Rantanen, meanwhile, kept doing what he seems to do against his old team: cause problems. More than two years removed from his dominant first-round series against Colorado, the Stars’ leading point scorer again looked right at home against the Avalanche. He spent his early shifts protecting the puck well in the offensive zone, then delivered a heavy hit on former linemate Nathan MacKinnon.
He didn’t record a point, but Rantanen still looked every bit the force in a back-and-forth game for Dallas.
Another encouraging sign for the Stars was the power play. Dallas entered the night just 1 for 8 with the man advantage, a number that sat 30th in the league. Even with Johnston out, the unit has too much talent to linger near the bottom for long, and Tyler Seguin filled Johnston’s spot and scored on the Stars’ first power-play chance of the night.
The play was helped by Devon Toews sitting back too long, giving Seguin an extra beat to read the action and bank it in off the scrum in front.
Seguin’s night went beyond that one goal, too. The 34-year-old has had his share of health issues, but this was a reminder of how central he remains to Dallas’ offense. He opened the third period by setting up Hintz from behind the net to pull the Stars within one.
The offense has been uneven early, but Seguin looks poised to be a major part of getting it rolling.
The one area that clearly hurt Dallas was discipline. The second-period tilt between Roope Hintz and MacKinnon - yes, that really happened - seemed to crank the tension up, but the Stars crossed the line late in the period with penalties from Kyle Capobianco and Radek Faksa. Colorado’s power play made them pay, and Martin Nečas scored his second of the night on a five-on-three to put the Avalanche up 3-1.
It’s still early, but the Stars will have to clean that up quickly. Against a group like the Avalanche, mistakes on the penalty kill tend to show up on the scoreboard.
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Avalanche Catch A Break In Dallas But Face A Bigger Concern
Wyatt Johnstons absence before puck drop gave Dallas a rare lineup wrinkle, and it came with immediate ripple effects. The Stars had to shuffle their forward group, moving Sam Steel to center and even turning to defenseman Kyle Capobianco in a forward role as they worked around the missing piece in the middle of the ice.
For Johnston, the bigger note is not just the disruption to Dallas plans but the end of a remarkable run that had held since his debut in October 2022. With other injuries and absences also affecting the broader matchup, the Stars are left balancing short-term lineup changes against the kind of availability questions that can change the look of a game in a hurry. [Read more 🡒]
Roope Hintz Sent A Message Stars Fans Wont Ignore
Roope Hintz brought a little extra edge to a familiar Central Division matchup Tuesday night, and it came in a way Stars fans do not often see from one of the teams quietest stars. The Dallas forward got involved in a second-period scrap with Nathan MacKinnon, adding a new layer to a rivalry that already had some history between the two players. For a Stars team that leans on Hintz for skill and composure, the moment stood out as much for its timing as for the message it sent.
Hintz followed it up with a goal in the third period, turning a chippy game into one that felt even more personal. Colorado had its own response, and the sequence only sharpened the stakes in a matchup between two contenders that rarely need extra fuel to get going. Between the fight, the scoring, and the reaction from both benches, this was the kind of night that reminded everyone these games can carry more than just points in the standings. [Read more 🡒]
Jake Oettinger Is Giving Dallas Everything But One Problem Remains
Jake Oettinger has been giving the Stars exactly what they need at the start of this season, piling up elite numbers while helping Dallas allow the fewest goals in the NHL through five games. His current .963 save percentage and 0.74 goals-against average tell the story of a goalie carrying his end of the load, and for most of the night against Pittsburgh, he looked every bit like the force Dallas has been leaning on.
The only blemish came late in the third period, when Connor Dewar finally broke through and ended Oettingers run without a goal against after 188 minutes and 52 seconds. Even then, Oettinger finished with 20 saves on 21 shots, but the Stars still left with a 2-1 shootout loss, which leaves the bigger question hanging over all of that early-season brilliance: how long can Dallas keep winning when one slip can still decide everything? [Read more 🡒]