Heika’s Take: Stars watch lead evaporate in Game 1 overtime loss to Avalanche

The Stars twice squandered multi-goal leads to the Colorado Avalanche during the regular season.

Make it three times now.

This one stung a bit more, as Dallas grabbed a 3-0 lead in Game 1 of the best-of-seven Second Round playoff series and then lost 4-3 in overtime. It was a painfully familiar story, and a horrible reminder of just how no lead is safe against the Avalanche.

“We shouldn’t have gotten to overtime,” said forward Matt Duchene. “We had that game under control, and we let it slip away. We’ve seen that in the regular season against them – we did have two games like that in the regular season – so we’ve got to bounce back and split the homestand here.”

Dallas was coming off an emotional Game 7 win over the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday and still had the energy of that performance racing through its veins. So when Ryan Suter, Wyatt Johnston and Jamie Benn each scored in the first period, it was a fantastic sign that maybe the Stars could take early control of this series.

But then the tired legs created by the Vegas series started to show, and Colorado began controlling play. The Stars mustered just three shots on goal in the second period and four in the third, and the Avalanche tied things up and forced overtime. Colorado drew penalties from Evgenii Dadonov and Craig Smith and cashed in both power plays to make the score 3-2. Valeri Nichushkin got the first goal as he fought for position on a rebound, and Cale Makar got the second when he put a shot past Jake Oettinger.

That made it a one-goal game heading into the third period, and the Avalanche quickly tied things up on the first shift. Nathan MacKinnon blasted a shot home from the right circle. It was just one of the many key plays by Colorado’s best players, and also a frustrating reminder of just how dangerous this team can be.

“Tonight was a tough turnaround as a group,” DeBoer said. “We had a great start.  The fatigue from Game 7 hit us in the second half of the game. Our group rallied and made a push in overtime.”

DeBoer started shuffling his lines, and really left no stone unturned. He moved Johnston to the top line, had Duchene take Johnston’s place on the Benn line, took Joe Pavelski and Tyler Seguin and put them with Sam Steel, and had Dadonov play with Radek Faksa and Smith.

“I thought it gave us a spark,” DeBoer said. “We had hit a rut there, the energy levels had dropped and I thought a big part of that was the hangover from Game 7. We shuffled the deck to try to get a spark, and I thought we did.”

The overtime was an exciting example of what the Stars can do. This time, Dallas had the jump and created the best scoring chances. Seguin and Logan Stankoven had a couple of chances, and Johnston looked like he might end the game in overtime. Faksa then had a shot go wide, and Andrew Cogliano found Miles Wood streaking up ice. Wood got around Miro Heiskanen and was able to get a shot past Oettinger for the game-winner at the 11:03 mark of overtime.

It was a gut punch for the fans, and when you look back to the start of the game, for the players, as well.

“You can’t take a breath with these guys,” Benn said. “They are a great team and they come at you. They took over that second period, and then found a way to get one early in the third. We had our chances to win that game.”

While Johnston and Benn continue to play well, the Stars need more from players like Roope Hintz, Pavelski, Duchene and Seguin.

“At the end of the night, their big guys delivered and were all over the scoresheet,” DeBoer said. “Some of our scoring has to step up. We’ve been waiting for a series plus a game now for some of that.”

Dallas lost both Games 1 and 2 at home against Vegas, and still bounced back and won that series. That said, this isn’t the way you want to do things. The Stars need to make sure they don’t get in too big of a hole, because digging out can be exhausting.

“There’s no time to feel sorry for ourselves,” said Duchene. “We’ve been in this position before, and this time we want to make sure we split. That’s a high-octane team over there. It was a very different style of game. We can do a better job throughout the 60 minutes, imposing our game on them with the puck. Like I said, we got away from it a bit in the second, and the tide turned there.”

And, having been through this before against Colorado, they definitely should have known better. The guess is they know better now.

“I think every time is different,” DeBoer said when asked about the Colorado comebacks. “You learn about each other as the series goes on, and what we know about that team is what happened tonight. They’re a quick strike team, and you just can’t make mistakes. That’s a tough lesson to learn in Game 1, but you’re glad you’re not learning it in an elimination game. We’ve got to be smarter than that.”

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 Twitter @MikeHeika.