The Dallas Stars scored three-straight goals to overcome a 2-0 deficit in a 3-2 win against the Carolina Hurricanes at American Airlines Center in Dallas on Saturday.

The return of the Stank / Bringing Stanky back / Stank…hambone…huh?

Look who’s back…

No, I don’t mean my ridiculous headings that are only funny to me and maybe my “one of us” crew.

I mean, Logan Stankoven!

Stankoven was excited to be back in Dallas. The shock of the trade for Mikko Rantanen has worn off, and Stankoven has found a home and some success with the Hurricanes.

Stankoven has been centering Carolina’s second line after playing wing for most of his professional career. At morning skate in Dallas, Stankoven received some lengthy instruction from someone who used to win faceoffs like it was his job. Well, because it was.

Stankoven said he was supposed to get dinner Friday night with a few old teammates, like Wyatt Johnston and Mavrik Bourque. But Bourque and co. had to cancel, so the crew plans to get together when Dallas visits Raleigh on January 6.

A quick chat with Stankoven reminded me why he was so beloved during his short tenure as a Star.

He is a hard worker at his core, staying on the ice very late after practices and morning skates and almost always taking part in optional skates. He’s a great teammate. He plays the game the right way, picture perfect for this Carolina team. And he is honest and open with the media, whether on camera talking hockey or just laughing 1-on-1.

Stankoven is missed around here, and he got a very warm welcome from the AAC crowd.

The first period was not great. Dallas chased most of the frame, only creating a couple of chances in the offensive end. The Hurricanes took a 2-0 lead after a puck bobble by Alex Petrovic — off a faceoff win by Stankoven, the irony — and a couple of mistakes by Miro Heiskanen at the offensive blue line that led to a clean 2-on-1 in the closing seconds.

Instead of focusing on the negative that initiated some boos sprinkling down from the crowd, let’s just admire Colin Blackwell’s first shift of the game.

Where is this team all the time??

Okay, not really. But the Stars did come out looking like a completely different team in the second period.

After a mistake on the Hurricanes’ second goal, Heiskanen decided to go essentially coast to coast and throw a pass off of Nikolaj Ehlers and in from the bottom of the left circle. That not only brought Dallas within one, but it led to a complete flip in momentum. For the next several minutes, the Stars dominated, winning puck battles and leaning heavily forward.

Eventually, they drew a penalty and went to work on the power play.

Sam Steel made a great play, first supporting the puck in the corner, then banking it out to Thomas Harley at the point, before finally going to the net and deflecting Harley’s shot into the top corner to tie the game.

It was mostly Dallas up to that point in the second. But it wasn’t perfect.

The game just felt wide open. At one point, Carolina had two glorious chances to score in tight, then Jason Robertson was stopped on a breakaway from center ice. It felt like 3-on-3 overtime, and that’s not a bad thing for us or the fans. But, it is a bad thing for coaches and anyone who really wants to see this Dallas team playing good, clean, structured hockey. Because they certainly did not, and neither did Carolina.

But for me, especially right now, early in the Glen Gulutzan era with a plethora of injuries, I just want to see some fun hockey. The second period delivered, and Dallas put itself in a spot to get something out of this game. That doesn’t happen often when Carolina jumps up by two goals in the first 20. The Stars have outshot Carolina 22-19 through two periods, which is also very rare.

A bumpy end that ended in a win

I have lost myself in these headings. But hey, we’re just having fun.

While the second period was pure chaos, the third was a bit less, but still chaos. Dallas took its first lead when Heiskanen doubled down on his billards and banked another pass across the goal line.

After taking the lead, Dallas blocked shots like mad men. They were down Roope Hintz (more on that in a moment), looked gassed, and were doing their best to hold off the Canes. It felt like the Stars blocked a lot of shots, especially late. So, I looked at the stats real quick…

That’s a lot of blocks. Rantanen blocked one late. Wyatt Johnston did the same. Jake Oettinger had no stick — which happened twice to each goalie in the game — and needed help. He got it with one block after another. And the Stars sealed their first win in five tries.

It was a win they really needed, no matter how they got it.

“Tells me how bad they want to win. How bad they want to win,” Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said. “So, it’s a really good sign.”

But the main story of the third, or at least the bigger picture, was Taylor Hall’s hit on Hintz.

Hall was called for charging after a major penalty review, and Dallas scored the go-ahead goal on the ensuing power play. But Hintz stayed on the ice after the hit and eventually slowly made his way off the ice and down the tunnel. He did not return to the game and was still being evaluated postgame.

The reason that is such a big story is because the Stars play tomorrow in Nashville. They are already rolling with exactly 12 healthy forwards and six healthy defensemen. They have essentially no cap space ($340,990 according to PuckPedia), so they can’t call anyone up. They have Matt Duchene and Oskar Bäck both close and a possibility for Sunday’s game.

But a possibility is not a sure thing, if I did my words correctly.

If Hintz can’t play Sunday, and neither Duchene nor Bäck are ready to go, Dallas either has to work some cap gymnastics — like possibly adding Nils Lundkvist to LTIR or sending down a specific forward to call up two two others — or they have to play short and bank on using an emergency call up the following day.

That’s not a fun position to be in, especially if your name is Mark Janko. It behooves Dallas to have Hintz and/or Duchene/Bäck ready to go tomorrow against the Predators.

Quotable

Stars coach Glen Gulutzan on Dallas relying on structure when the game gets chaotic

“If you look at [Carolina], they’ve been trading chances in their six wins… And we did have a thought process there… We don’t play as heavy of a pinch and press game. Most team’s don’t. They’re probably the class of the League, them and Florida, with that type of game. We just wanted to make sure our structure held better than their pressure.”