Stars Survive Late Blues Rally, But Gulutzan Wants More: “We Dropped a Degree”
The Stars walked out of Enterprise Center with a 4-3 win over the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday night, but if you were expecting a celebratory locker room afterward, you’d be mistaken. Head coach Glen Gulutzan wasn’t exactly thrilled - and that might be the most telling part of the night.
Dallas looked like a team in control through two periods, building a 3-0 lead with sharp puck movement, effective special teams, and a clear edge in the faceoff circle. But the third period?
That was a different story. The Stars let the Blues claw all the way back to tie it with just over four minutes left in regulation.
Only a late strike from Thomas Harley - with 1:07 remaining - saved them from what would’ve been a brutal collapse.
“This just goes to show you what happens when you drop a degree,” Gulutzan said postgame. “It doesn’t matter who you’re playing or where they are in the standings, everyone in this league is a good team.”
A Tale of Two Games
For 40 minutes, Dallas did just about everything right. They led 3-0, held an 18-15 edge in shots, and were dominating the dot, winning 20 of 29 faceoffs.
The power play was humming, going 2-for-3, and the puck movement was crisp. Mikko Rantanen found Matt Duchene with a slick feed to open the scoring, and just 40 seconds later, Duchene doubled the lead by deflecting a centering pass off a defender and in.
Then Jason Robertson teed up Roope Hintz for a power-play marker, and the Stars were cruising.
“We trust what we can do and trust that we can make those plays,” Hintz said of the team’s power play, which has been lethal all year and currently ranks second in the NHL at 29.9 percent. “We don’t get frustrated if they don’t go in, so we just have to stick with it.”
But once the third period started, the Stars lost their edge - and Gulutzan noticed.
“When you’re leading the faceoff circle by 66 percent and then you don’t win a draw in the third, and you lose battles in the third, that means you’ve dropped a degree,” he said. “And we almost lost the game because of it.”
Blues Push Back, Stars Nearly Fold
St. Louis, now 19-28-9 and fighting to stay relevant in the playoff race, didn’t go quietly.
Robby Fabbri cut into the lead with a goal that came after a borderline offside call - one Dallas challenged and lost, resulting in a delay of game penalty. The Stars managed to kill it, but the momentum had clearly shifted.
Then came a bad bounce. Harley tried to rim a puck around the boards, but it caught the skate of an official. The puck kicked out to Brayden Schenn, who buried his second of the night to tie the game 3-3.
Suddenly, the Stars were staring down the possibility of letting a three-goal lead slip away entirely. But with just over a minute to play, Wyatt Johnston won a critical faceoff, and Harley - the same guy who had the unfortunate bounce earlier - ripped a shot through traffic that beat Jordan Binnington clean.
“The universe owed me one after that goal against,” Harley said with a smile. “So I got it back, thank goodness.”
A Win, But Not Without Warning Signs
Yes, Dallas got the two points. Yes, they’ve now won back-to-back games for the first time since before Christmas.
But the third-period letdown is something this team can’t afford in a tight Central Division race. With Minnesota breathing down their necks - and the Wild picking up a 4-3 shootout win over Chicago on the same night - every point matters.
The margin for error is razor-thin.
Dallas was outhit 43-12, outshot 11-6 in the third, and lost the faceoff battle 11-8 in the final frame. Those are the kinds of stats that catch a coach’s eye - not because they’re just numbers, but because they reflect effort, focus, and execution.
“Any game you win is a good one,” Duchene said. “It’s a good lesson that you can’t take your foot off the gas, because teams will turn it around on you.”
With four games left before the Olympic break - including tough matchups ahead against Vegas and Utah - the Stars don’t have much time to keep learning the same lesson.
Asked if this was a good reminder, Harley didn’t mince words: “Yeah, it’s one I wish we would stop learning at some point.”
The Stars are still in the thick of the Central Division race, and they’ve got the talent to make a real run. But Tuesday night was a reminder: in this league, even the smallest drop in intensity can turn a sure win into a near disaster.