All good things must come to an end.
And on Monday night, Dallas’ franchise record 15-game point streak came to a close.
The game looked even for the first forty minutes, but the Stars made too many offensive mistakes, allowed too many odd-man rushes and could not complete plays, giving the Mammoth ample opportunities to capitalize. The Stars will try to put this game behind them as they head to Colorado for an important matchup with their division rivals on Wednesday.
“There’s no time to pout on this loss or anything,” Sam Steel said. “It’s a huge game. It’s a team we’re chasing, and we’ll be up for it.”
Steel kicked off scoring early in the first after Jamie Benn sent him a puck from behind the net, picking up a career-high 12th goal of the season.
The Stars were handling the puck well, with good possessions in Utah’s zone that produced scoring chances. Adam Erne and Brandon Tanev collided mid-ice, causing the two to drop gloves and rip into each other. Both forwards received five minutes for fighting.
The Mammoth responded a few minutes later with a goal of their own. Clayton Keller sent tight-angle shot from the red line that went over Casey DeSmith’s shoulder to even the score out.
The physical play continued, and so did the fighting. Lian Bichsel and Jack McBain also got into it, and while there are no official winners of fights in hockey, Bichsel would have gotten a point.
Steel went to the box for tripping near the end of the period, but Utah struggled to maintain possession, and Dallas killed the penalty.
Tied going into the second, both teams began the period with good scoring chances, but neither could connect with the net – even with a Utah power play.
The Mammoth managed to tack on another goal on DeSmith shortly after when Nate Schmidt sent a puck through traffic. Down by one, the Stars headed to a power play after Mavrik Bourque got tripped up by Sean Durzi, but had no luck.
Miro Heiskanen flung a wrist shot towards the net that Johnston, a graduate of the Joe Pavelski school of tipping, deflected past Vitek Vanecek and evened the score.
But as the third period began, Dallas began to unravel.
During the Stars’ power play after Utah got called for hooking, Heiskanen made a rare mistake and turned over the puck to Jack McBain who went one-on-one with DeSmith and scored. Four minutes later, Kailer Yamamoto sent another puck past DeSmith.
“It’s harder to come behind with two because you lack some firepower, and you can’t play that open,” head coach Glen Gulutzan said. “We opened it up too much in the third. I thought we could have just stayed with it when it was 3-2, but we got a little loose, and they capitalized.”
The Stars had a final push and produced a few scoring chances, but ultimately never regained control of the game. Michael Carcone scored on a power play and when Dallas went empty net, Lawson Crouse knocked another goal in.
Erne managed to sneak a goal in with two seconds remaining, but the Stars still fell 6-3.
Dallas will travel to Colorado to face the Avalanche Wednesday night at 8:30 p.m. CT.