Heika’s Take: Stars explode out of gate in Edmonton, dominate from start to finish in 8-3 win

The Stars did a lot of things correctly on Tuesday.

It wasn’t a “perfect” game technically, but it was a situationally perfect game.

In beating the Edmonton Oilers, 8-3, Dallas: Got off to a great start and took a 4-0 lead in the first period; Had its best power play night in a while, going 3-for-3, including a masterful goal at 5-on-3; Received three goals from depth forwards on a night when leading scorer Mikko Rantanen was serving his one-game suspension; And crushed the team that has ended their playoff runs in the previous two seasons.

Not too shabby.

“It kind of all came together tonight,” captain Jamie Benn said. “Our start was great. That’s how we want to start games on the road, especially against good teams like this.”

To be fair, the Oilers are struggling this season and were returning from a seven-game east coast road trip. But they have been to the past two Stanley Cup Finals and dispatched the Stars in five games in last year’s Western Conference Final. So, yeah, that is a very nice win.

If you want to mix in the fact that Stars head coach Glen Gulutzan was an Oilers assistant for seven years before taking over as Dallas bench boss, well that was swirling in the arena, as well.

And it all fueled the lads in Victory Green on this night.

With Rantanen out of the lineup, Gulutzan assembled the trio of Benn, Wyatt Johnston and Sam Steel. That group was shot out of a cannon early and got Dallas on the board with a pretty goal from Benn, the 400th of his career.

Roope Hintz followed with a power play goal, and Nathan Bastian added his first tally of the season to make it 3-0. Then, the Johnston line scored again, this time on a pretty goal from Alberta native Steel, and things seemed pretty perfect in the Stars world.

Edmonton cut the deficit to 4-1 on a Dallas breakdown in the second period, and there was some concern that the electric Oilers might be able to create some chaos at Rogers Place. But then Justin Hryckowian drew a hold and Mavrik Bourque was hooked, and the Stars’ had a 5-on-3 power play.

Dallas has been one of the top man advantages all season, but it has looked a little slow in recent games and it squandered a two-man advantage before losing in a shootout to Calgary on Saturday. So Gulutzan used his timeout and assistant coach Neil Graham called the first unit over for a spirited session in front of the bench.

Instead of being too patient – as they were against the Flames – the Stars attacked the net quickly. One shot was off, but it was quickly recovered, and then Johnston found Jason Robertson on the doorstep for an easy tap-in to make it 5-1.

It was a nice little look into how this team deals with hiccups.

“I thought we had some good looks on all of the power plays,” Gulutzan said. “The 5-on-3 was well executed and it was an important goal.”

Because the Stars scored so quickly, they still had a 5-on-4 remaining, and Johnston scored there to make it 6-1.

“You need the power play to be effective,” Gulutzan said. “It’s ‘when’ the power play scores. Not how many, but ‘when.’”

That two minutes pretty much ended the push from the Oilers and provided the cushion to keep the Stars’ road point streak going. They are now 6-0-3 in their past nine road games. In addition, Robertson’s goal stretches his scoring streak to seven straight games (a career-long), and Johnston finished with a goal and three assists and now sits at a round 101 goals and 101 assists in his career.

“It felt good,” said Johnston. “It was nice to beat that team, especially with the history in the playoffs last couple of years.”

Bastian and Hryckowian finished out the scoring while the Oilers pushed two more past Jake Oettinger, and that did make for a game that had a little bit of wonkiness in the end. But the fact the depth players got in the act was huge.

In addition to Rantanen missing the game, Matt Duchene, Thomas Harley, Nils Lundkvist and Ilya Lyubushkin were also out of the lineup.

“In my opinion, that’s the sign of a good team,” Bastian said. “You want to see your best buddies contribute. Every time, Ritzy, Bourque, Oskar\] [Bäck score, it feels good. We see Robo score enough, so if we can contribute I think he’s equally happy for us as he is for himself.”

The leaders definitely were first off the bench with the congratulations.

“It’s huge,” said Benn, who missed the first 19 games and was able to work out with Bastian when he was a healthy scratch. “I got to hang out with Bass a little in my time out of the lineup, and I saw all of the hard work he put in - every skate, every off-ice workout. So for him to come in and contribute like he did, it’s awesome to see.”

And awesome for a team that is finding different ways to overcome different challenges while going 14-5-4 through the first 23 games. In Calgary, the Stars probably leaned too heavily on the top players. In Edmonton, they didn’t have to.

“When you’re able to roll four lines, there is a lot of rhythm in the game, you can feel it,” Bastian said. “Everybody is contributing and sometimes the score ends up the way it does.”

Almost perfect.

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.