{"id":545605,"date":"2026-03-17T06:14:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T06:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/545605\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T06:14:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T06:14:13","slug":"stars-uncanny-impression-of-1999-stanley-cup-team-finally-gives-out-vs-utah-mammoth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/545605\/","title":{"rendered":"Stars\u2019 uncanny impression of 1999 Stanley Cup team finally gives out vs. Utah Mammoth"},"content":{"rendered":"

Walking from the parking garage to the American Airlines, the first two Dallas Stars<\/a> jerseys I saw crossing Victory Drive Monday night were a \u201c9\u2033 Mike Modano and \u201c21\u2033 Guy Carbonneau. It has been 27 years since those players captured the Stanley Cup for Dallas, but, for that reason, it\u2019s a team that will not be forgotten.<\/p>\n

The current edition is doing all it can to at least rub some elbows with the champs.<\/p>\n

Mammoth mugging: See photos as Stars’ fall to Utah to snap points streak<\/p>\n

\"DallasView Gallery<\/p>\n

Dallas took a 15-game points streak<\/a> into its game with the Utah Mammoth<\/a> Monday. That matches the team record set by the \u201898-99 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.<\/p>\n

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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\u2019 pursuit of the Avs<\/a> for the best record in the Western Conference.<\/p>\n

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 \u2014 two on breakaways, including a short-handed goal on a giveaway by Miro Heiskanen \u2014 as Utah ended the points streak with an emphatic 6-3 victory at the AAC.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomeone told me we hadn\u2019t lost (in regulation) in 55 days,\u2019\u2019 Coach Glen Gulutzan said. \u201cWhen you lose it always feels the game.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Utah scored every way imaginable in the final period \u2014 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\u2019 Trophy as a prelude to what the club hopes is another extended playoff run.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, it\u2019s a credit to the guys,\u201d Gulutzan said Monday morning. \u201cWe\u2019ve had some injuries to significant players, and all the guys who\u2019ve come into the lineup have contributed. I haven\u2019t talked to the team about [the streak], I just know players are staying in the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The significant players being missed include Roope Hintz the last five games and Mikko Rantanen since the Olympic break<\/a>. Rantanen was injured playing for Finland in the Bronze Medal game and Gulutzan said Monday that he won\u2019t make this week\u2019s trip to play big games at Colorado on Wednesday and Minnesota on Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s more like 10 days out or two weeks out,\u201d the coach said. And he will be back before Hintz or Radek Faksa, also injured during the Olympics while playing for Team Czechia<\/a>. 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.<\/p>\n

In hockey, the guys just keep playing and, in the Stars\u2019 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\u2019 net on a Miro Heiskanen turnover. Backup goaltender Casey DeSmith had one of his worst nights, surrendering five goals on 21 shots.<\/p>\n

In the 15-game streak, Dallas outscored opponents 63-36. The \u201899 Stars were a little more defensive-oriented (as was the league) with a 57-28 advantage over 15 games. <\/p>\n

In spite of the lengthy run, Gulutzan said no one is focused on the standings (even though they are posted just outside the team\u2019s locker room for all to see on a regular basis).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not chasing anybody, and we\u2019re not trying to avoid anybody,\u201d he said. \u201cOur focus the entire year has been to refine our game. I think it\u2019s helped us.\u201d<\/p>\n

For one night, or one period really, the Stars wobbled. Or maybe it\u2019s 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\u2019t have much time to dwell on the end of a streak with Colorado and Minnesota up next on the road.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s case that the focus is working.<\/p>\n

X: @TimCowlishaw<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/a>NHL playoff tracker: Can Dallas Stars finally get over the hump in 2026?<\/a><\/p>\n

Live updates on the Stars\u2019 spot in the Western Conference, the Central Division and their potential first-round matchup<\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/a>Dallas Stars goalie Jake Oettinger honored as NHL’s Second Star of the Week<\/a><\/p>\n

Oettinger earned the latest honor after posting a 3-0-0 record in games from March 10-14.<\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/a>3 things to know about Stars-Mammoth: Dallas takes ice vs. Utah hunting franchise record<\/a><\/p>\n

The Stars are a win (or overtime loss) away from setting a franchise record for points in consecutive games.<\/p>\n

Find more Stars coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Walking from the parking garage to the American Airlines, the first two Dallas Stars jerseys I saw crossing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545606,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[92379,64,63,8612,7521,62975,575,85,1974],"class_list":["post-545605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-american-airlines-center","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-commentary","tag-dallas-stars","tag-glen-gulutzan","tag-nhl","tag-sports","tag-stars"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}