The Dallas Stars found a way to tie the game and force overtime but allowed a 4-on-3 power-play goal early in a 3-2 loss against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center on Sunday.

Are you joking?

The Stars have traveled well with their magnets this season: one in the puck, and the other in each and every Dallas player’s face.

The hits-to-the-face trend continued in the first period today.

First, it was Oskar Bäck getting hit from behind and face planting into the boards only eight seconds in. Then Bäck took a deflected Esa Lindell shot right to the mouth and left the game. Then Roope Hintz took a backhand to the face and also left the game.

I mean, this is a sick joke, right?

The good news is that both players returned before the end of the period, so the assumption is minimal damage was done. Especially for Bäck’s sake, I really hope that’s the case. Otherwise, he may never get his braces off.

Don’t fly too close to the sun

Here is my main concern about this team since the trade deadline: they fly too close to the sun and often get burned.

When you are only creating 20 shots and a handful of scoring chances per game, one mistake can cost you. That is what happened against Pittsburgh, and it happened again in Minnesota. Certainly doesn’t help when you also allow 40 shots as often as they have.

Dallas could not extend the lead or even really create a whole lot offensively. Then the Wild get a flukey chance in the slot, tie the game, and Marcus Foligno converts on a rebound in tight to flip the score just like that. The Stars did a good job forcing overtime, but the end result was still a loss, and let’s face it, another missed opportunity.

The Dallas Stars at their best, did not do this. First of all, they locked it down in their own end. And even when they didn’t, their offensive game was producing plenty to outscore a mistake or two.

Right now, they are making more mistakes or poor reads and either using a ridiculous shooting percentage to overcome it — like this:

— or simply not creating enough and losing or playing tight games against inferior opponents.

It’s a really tough way to live and is going to put them in a bad spot come playoff time… which by the way is rapidly approaching.

Where, oh where is Miro Heiskanen

Through this stretch of hockey where Dallas has found ways to win but has not been playing its best, there remained a beacon of hope… the return of Miro Heiskanen would fix all their problems.

That may even be true. But he wasn’t returning anytime soon, and Dallas needed to figure some of this stuff out on its own.

Now, the hope has faded, as Stars general manager Jim Nill shared with ESPN Saturday that the Stars DO NOT expect to have Heiskanen back for the first round of the playoffs. Ouch.

This team is capable of winning games without Heiskanen, we have seen it. But the underlying numbers have not been good since their best player suffered a knee injury and underwent surgery a couple of months ago.

And are they capable of winning four out of seven against the Colorado Avalanche, their most likely opponent in the first round? I am really not sure. Honestly, I think it becomes a coin flip, whereas with Heiskanen, I believe Dallas is the better team.

Five more regular season games to figure all of this out.