Heika’s Take: DeSmith shines as Stars pick up point in frustrating loss to Rangers

The Stars had one of those games on Tuesday.

A little good, a little bad, but mostly an unsatisfying outcome in a 3-2 overtime loss to the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.

“I didn’t love our effort,” said Stars coach Glen Gulutzan. “I thought we got a point because of our goalie and our penalty kill. Our penalty kill was really good and our goalie was even better. Otherwise, I thought we got outplayed.”

Goalie Casey DeSmith was likewise disappointed. The veteran backup was called into action because of an illness to Jake Oettinger, but then came up with one of his best performances of the season.

DeSmith stopped 38 shots and helped hold the Rangers power play to an 0-for-5 night. However, he allowed the tying goal with 2:13 remaining in regulation and then lost on a long rebound in overtime.

“It was too good of a game for it to end like that, so I’m pretty bummed,” said DeSmith, who moves to 6-1-3 on the season with a 2.16 GAA and .921 save percentage.

He’s even better on the road, where he has a 1.96 GAA and .933 save percentage.

“He’s been incredible this year and he showed another stellar performance,” said defenseman Kyle Capobianco. “He’s so calm, so steady. He’s been a rock for us.”

DeSmith needed to be for a few reasons. The Stars announced Tuesday that defenseman Lian Bichsel will be out 6-8 weeks because of a lower body injury he suffered Sunday against Ottawa. Defenseman Vladislav Kolyachonok stepped in and will likely see even more minutes going forward. Same with Capobianco, who is getting extra time because of injuries to Thomas Harley and Nils Lundkvist.

In addition, Tyler Seguin took an awkward fall in the first period and left the game. He will be re-evaluated on Wednesday, Gulutzan said, but the Stars played with 11 forwards for the remainder of the game.

The head coach singled out the forwards and said the team needed more, as the Rangers had a 41-26 advantage in shots on goal and a 73-52 edge in shot attempts (on goal, missed and blocked).

New York also drew five power plays and had nine shots on goal with the man advantage.

“They outplayed us,” Gulutzan said. “The right team got two points.”

That’s frustrating for a Stars team that has been on a roll. Dallas is 10-1-2 in its past 13 games, with eight of those games on the road. They play at New Jersey on Wednesday, completing a stretch of six games in nine days.

“It’s the same for everyone,” Gulutzan said, mentioning the condensed schedule because of the Olympic break in February. “You just have to find a way to deal with it.”

Part of the way for the Stars has been the strong play of the depth players. They have seen key minutes from depth players like Oskar Bäck and Justin Hryckowian, and then in recent games players like Capobianco and Kolyachonok have proven to be steady.

“Capo scored today, you love to see that,” DeSmith said. “Koly has been great, it was nice to have [Ilya Lyubushkin] back. All of the guys have been really good. It was tough to see Bisch go down, but we have the guys to step up every night.”

And they will be tested again on Wednesday in New Jersey.

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on X @MikeHeika.