The Dallas Stars had it all going before giving up two multi-goal leads in a 5-4 shootout loss against the Colorado Avalanche at American Airlines Center on Friday.

Stars lines

• Robertson – Hintz – Johnston
• Steel – Duchene – Benn
• Erne – Hryckowian – Bourque
• Blackwell – Bäck – Bastian

• Lindell – Heiskanen
• Harley – Lundkvist
• Bichsel – Lyubushkin  

• Oettinger
• DeSmith

Scratches: Kyle Capobianco, Alex Petrovic

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A major change in vibes.

After a fairly quiet day on the trade front, but what still felt chaotic around here, the Stars put down a statement performance through 30 minutes of hockey. They were clearly the better team 5-on-5, and outside of two power-play goals, one of which came on a poor call, they gave up very little to the best team in the NHL.

A solid win would have put a stamp on a fun day with great vibes around the rink. It also would’ve made a statement to Colorado that Dallas still owns them, even without Mikko Rantanen, Tyler Seguin, Radek Faksa, and for a while, Roope Hintz.

Instead, they got a bit too defensive, made a couple crucial mistakes, and let two separate two-goal leads slip away into a shootout loss. That stings. There’s no way it doesn’t. And it certainly killed the mood.

But the key takeaway is that this Stars team has drastically improved since being completely outplayed in Denver back in October. They proved something to the Avs and themselves with a performance like this. That goes a long way, even if the result is a shot in the standings.

“I liked us tonight,” Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said. “We had a chance for an empty netter, we’d be having a different discussion right now. We didn’t get it, they get a late tying goal… I liked a lot of our players tonight, I thought a lot of guys played well… Lot of growth from the first game we played them until now. But that’s just a preview of what’s to come. There’s more of this to come.”

Live game notebook

Before we get into the game, here is Stars GM Jim Nill’s post trade deadline press conference:

And here is Nill on Seguin and the decision to put him on season-ending LTIR.

Period 1

• The puck has not yet dropped, and it is LOUD in here. Lines out the door and plenty of noise pregame.
• Dallas took an early penalty. Oskar Bäck definitely held the stick, and despite ranking dead last on the power play, Colorado took the lead on a perfect screen shot by Cale Makar. It’s what Makar does best, but he doesn’t do it a lot on the power play this year.

• Speaking of elite defenseman who don’t score a lot of power-play goals, Miro Heiskanen has entered the chat. After some really patient puck work by the Stars power play — You could see them adapting to Colorado’s pressure points — Heiskanen’s shot from the point deflected off the stick of Parker Kelly, the chest of Devon Toews, and past Mackenzie Blackwood. It got even louder in here.

• As the AAC was still buzzing, Dallas had its best shift of the game, and maybe most dominant over this stretch. Nathan Bastian, Colin Blackwell, and Bäck created some chaos on the forecheck. Then Jason Robertson came off the bench and slipped a nasty behind the back pass to Hintz flying through the slot. Hintz just missed the top corner with a nasty release we haven’t seen in a bit. Good to see him flying after his illness. But eventually, Wyatt Johnston picked up a puck behind the net, circled to the middle of the ice while deking past a couple of Avs, and picked the top right corner with a perfect shot. The puck looked to just lay flat after rolling the whole way to the slot and may have even tipped off the tip of Blackwood’s glove.

• I usually have more notes between goals… But this game has been so fun to watch and goals are coming in hot.
• After another good Dallas shift, a terrible exchange between Blackwood and Toews behind the Colorado net found its way to Mavrik Bourque, who spun a shot or pass across the crease. It landed on the tape of Justin Hryckowian, who took plenty of time to tuck it into the open net. He had a lot of time, and he took just about all of it. It was quite funny in what is usually such a fast-paced game. Fooled ’em with the triple deke.

• Yikes, the Stars had all the momentum, but a pretty questionable call on Bourque leads to an immediate power-play goal by Nathan MacKinnon. Bourque threw a huge hit at center ice, but the referee called it interference. Clearly, it wasn’t.

“Yeah, I was upset about that hit,” Gulutzan said. “It’s an intense game, and that’s a good hit. We’re going to hit guys like that all day long. They’re hitting guys, we hit guys. That, for me, wasn’t a penalty in this kind of game. And I don’t think it’s a penalty in any game.”

• What a period. Wow. I love this rivalry. So much.

Stars 3, Avalanche 2

Period 2

• It didn’t take long for the action to ramp up again. Adam Erne made a great play at center ice to protect the puck, Bourque chipped it deep, and Hryckowian got in on the forecheck and impressively won a puck with ease against Josh Manson. Hryckowian used a one-handed poke check to steal the puck, spun off Manson and kept his balance, then found Jamie Benn crashing the net. What a play all around and a Hryckowian hat trick (penalty, goal, assist).

• Scott Wedgewood has replaced Blackwood in goal for Colorado.
• So far, this is a statement for Dallas. But they have to keep it going that way.
• Oof, I jinxed them for sure. After Jake Oettinger looked really good for nearly half the game, he got beat by a fairly innocent wrist shot by Martin Necas. There are some defensive issues on the play, and it’s a nice shot, but it’s a shot that Oettinger doesn’t read well and should probably save. One-goal game again.

• Yeesh again, MacKinnon and Hintz got tangled along the boards, and Hintz stayed down on the ice in pain. Esa Lindell came over to go after MacKinnon, but after watching the replay, it looked like it was just an awkward wrestling match that ended badly. Hintz stayed down in pain and was helped off the ice putting no weight on his left leg. Not good

• I don’t expect good news out of this injury update, whenever we get it. But I won’t speculate, and we will wait and see — Hintz has been ruled out for the rest of the game by Stars PR. There was no update on Hintz after the game.
• On the ice, it’s a one-goal game going into the third, and Colorado has pushed back.

Stars 4, Avalanche 3

Period 3

• Robertson has some lethal skill. After pulling a puck off the wall through the middle of the ice, he forked a backhand chip shot that looked to surprised Wedgewood, but it missed high.
• Hryckowian is all over it tonight.
• Oettinger makes a big save while scrambling around.
• Wedgewood has been really good since coming in. This time, he reads a quick cross-crease pass by Robertson and attacks out on top of his crease to block it with his pad.
• Another questionable call — This time, a trip on Bastian that looked more like a toe pick by Makar — puts Dallas on a very important penalty kill late in the third.
• Oettinger makes a huge left pad save on a wide-open slot shot by Brock Nelson. Blackwell had no stick, and Dallas got through a tough sequence and cleared the puck.
• Val Nichushkin came very close to trying the game, hitting both posts straight across the goal line as the power play expired.
• After a great play in the defensive end to get the puck out, Dallas had an easy chance to score into the empty net and win the game. But Hryckowian opted to pass over to Benn as they crossed the blue line, and Benn missed the net on the backhand. Still a one-goal game with 49 seconds to go.
• And it cost them. Nichushkin beat Oettinger over the left shoulder from the bottom of the left circle with 13 seconds to go to force overtime. Bad for Dallas because they had two leads and a great chance at an empty net dagger. And bad again because they lost their chance to steal both points in the Central Division race. Now, they have to try to get the second past regulation.

Overtime

• Who starts the 3-on-3 OT between the two best teams in the league? How about rookie Justin Hryckowian? Hryckowian played 20:22 tonight, third-most among forwards and his career high. Unfortunately, he loses the draw, and Dallas chases for the first bit of OT. Hryckowian played two shifts early in OT.
• Benn came on the ice and looked determined. He used a slick backhand pass through the middle of the ice to spring Heiskanen. Wedgwood made a great save with his left arm or maybe the cheater part of the glove on the wrist shot from the dead slot. Then Heiskanen got another wide-open chance seconds later but missed high to the blocker side. Wedgewood was very good in relief.
• Oettinger one upped his buddy with an incredible pad save on a mini 2-on-0 for Colorado. He read it well, exploded to his right, and just got across to get the top of his pad on the shot and send it over the net. One of his best saves of the season.

• Roberston had a breakaway as time expired, but he seemed to look at Wedgewood, and say, “See you in the shootout.”
• Unfortunately for Dallas, Wedgewood made beautiful glove saves on both Robertson and Duchene, and both Avs scored beautiful deke goals to win the game in the shootout.

Avalanche 5, Stars 4 (SO)

Quotable

Miro Heiskanen on the loss:

“Tight game. Could’ve gone either way. Both teams had good chances. Small margins. Two good teams, so it’s always tight. But… disappointing ending.”