Heika’s Take: Stars struggle to stack on Tuesday’s win in 1-0 loss to Blue Jackets

The Stars did their best to stack good things on Thursday, but Jet Greaves knocked over pretty much anything they tried to build.

The lads in Victory Green were intent on building off a 6-2 win over Boston on Tuesday and really had a lot to like against the Columbus Blue Jackets. But Greaves made 28 saves and took a 1-0 victory that has Dallas once again searching for answers.

“I thought we created some offense tonight, I thought we defended reasonably well, we just couldn’t get one over the line,” said defenseman Thomas Harley.

While coach Glen Gulutzan added, “We just didn’t execute on some of our chances. We had a lot of good looks, even late breakaways and some 2-on-1’s. I thought their goaltender was really good, I thought ours was too. It’s just one of those games where you need to find a goal somewhere.”

Jason Robertson hit a post. Justin Hryckowian hit the crossbar in the final three minutes. The Stars finished with a 28-22 advantage in shots on goal and a 61-46 edge in shot attempts. Dallas was credited with twice as many scoring chances and three times as many high danger chances.

“We had our looks, just a quarter of an inch off tonight,” Harley said.

It was a tough dose of reality after a solid outing against the Bruins. Gulutzan has been talking about stacking one good thing on top of another and this seemed like a perfect opportunity. Instead, the easy thing to do is to reflect on the negative.

Even with the Tuesday victory, the Stars are still 3-7-4 in their past 14 games. They trail Minnesota (29-14-9) by two points for second in the Central Division and they are sixth overall in the league after sitting comfortably in second for most of the first 40 games.

“I don’t think anyone feels satisfied with how that game went, so we’ll give it another shot tomorrow,” Harley said of a home game against St. Louis on Friday. “We’ve got to figure it out.”

That said, Dallas did play a lot better than it did in previous losses and could have some things to build on. While missing leading scorer Mikko Rantanen for a second game with illness, Dallas played a very good road game and had the opportunity to take two points and build some momentum.

“I don’t mind our game right now, but this is a results business and we need to find some results,” Gulutzan said. “We need to execute and we need to find ways to get some points.”

And with those points, hopefully, will come the confidence to get back into the habit of winning.

“We’re still trying to find our traction, but I like where our defensive game is heading and our compete game,” Gulutzan said.

So take that and turn it into points on Friday. And yes, if they run into another goalie as hot as Greaves, they have to work even harder.

“It’s frustrating,” Wyatt Johnston said. “But you’ve worked hard to get your looks and you have to work even harder to finish them. Their goalie was great tonight and we needed to do even more to make life difficult for him.”

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.