Walking from the parking garage to the American Airlines, the first two Dallas Stars jerseys I saw crossing Victory Drive Monday night were a “9″ Mike Modano and “21″ Guy Carbonneau. It has been 27 years since those players captured the Stanley Cup for Dallas, but, for that reason, it’s a team that will not be forgotten.
The current edition is doing all it can to at least rub some elbows with the champs.
Mammoth mugging: See photos as Stars’ fall to Utah to snap points streak
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Dallas took a 15-game points streak into its game with the Utah Mammoth Monday. That matches the team record set by the ‘98-99 squad in the first half of that championship season. That team went 12-0-3 in a month-long stretch (the NHL played five-minute 5-on-5 overtime periods, so there were ties) that saw the team raise its new Pacific Division-leading record from 13-5-3 to an unstoppable 25-5-6.
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This club, thanks to an Olympic break, had gone nearly two months since failing to register a point in a game. That was a 1-0 loss in Columbus on Jan. 22. Dallas has gone 14-0-1 over that stretch, the only blemish being a 5-4 overtime defeat against Colorado that has barely slowed the Stars’ pursuit of the Avs for the best record in the Western Conference.
And after being tied with a scrappy Utah team 2-2 through two periods, the Stars finally just gave out. Playing a sloppy period for one of the few times this calendar year, Dallas gave up four goals — two on breakaways, including a short-handed goal on a giveaway by Miro Heiskanen — as Utah ended the points streak with an emphatic 6-3 victory at the AAC.
“Someone told me we hadn’t lost (in regulation) in 55 days,’’ Coach Glen Gulutzan said. “When you lose it always feels the game.’’
Utah scored every way imaginable in the final period — even strength, power play, penalty kill and short-handed. Still, it was a heck of an eight-week run for Dallas, and one that has the Stars competing for a Presidents’ Trophy as a prelude to what the club hopes is another extended playoff run.
“For me, it’s a credit to the guys,” Gulutzan said Monday morning. “We’ve had some injuries to significant players, and all the guys who’ve come into the lineup have contributed. I haven’t talked to the team about [the streak], I just know players are staying in the moment.”
The significant players being missed include Roope Hintz the last five games and Mikko Rantanen since the Olympic break. Rantanen was injured playing for Finland in the Bronze Medal game and Gulutzan said Monday that he won’t make this week’s trip to play big games at Colorado on Wednesday and Minnesota on Saturday afternoon.
“He’s more like 10 days out or two weeks out,” the coach said. And he will be back before Hintz or Radek Faksa, also injured during the Olympics while playing for Team Czechia. Thinking back to how hard Mark Cuban once argued against having Mavericks play and risk injury in international competition, you can imagine the kind of screaming this trio of injuries would be making in other sports.
In hockey, the guys just keep playing and, in the Stars’ case, scoring goals. Dallas also rode a 12-game streak of scoring at least one power play goal into the Utah contest. That ended when the only goal with Dallas on the man advantage went into the Stars’ net on a Miro Heiskanen turnover. Backup goaltender Casey DeSmith had one of his worst nights, surrendering five goals on 21 shots.
In the 15-game streak, Dallas outscored opponents 63-36. The ‘99 Stars were a little more defensive-oriented (as was the league) with a 57-28 advantage over 15 games.
In spite of the lengthy run, Gulutzan said no one is focused on the standings (even though they are posted just outside the team’s locker room for all to see on a regular basis).
“We’re not chasing anybody, and we’re not trying to avoid anybody,” he said. “Our focus the entire year has been to refine our game. I think it’s helped us.”
For one night, or one period really, the Stars wobbled. Or maybe it’s just that the former Phoenix Coyotes are a solid defensive team that makes you pay for mistakes on the way to what it hopes is a wild-card berth in the Western Conference playoffs. Either way, the Stars don’t have much time to dwell on the end of a streak with Colorado and Minnesota up next on the road.
Even after a frustrating loss Monday, one team out of 29 opponents has a better record than the Stars. That would seem to make Gulutzan’s case that the focus is working.
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