As good of a team as the Dallas Stars were last season, their best hockey wasn’t played at home.
The Stars were the league’s best road team with a 26-10-5 record. They improved upon those numbers in the playoffs, going 6-3 on opponent ice.
But with a home advantage, the Stars had nearly the same record, 26-11-4, and it was noticeably worse in the playoffs where they went just 4-6 at American Airlines Center. The more glaring statistic is that they were 20th in the league in goals-against per game at home (3.02).
But through their first three home games of the 2024-25 season, the Stars are beginning to flip that script.
Dallas came away with its fourth consecutive win to start the season in a 3-2 shootout victory over the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night. It was the Stars’ third win in a row at home, where they’ve outscored their opponents 8-2.
The Sharks took the Stars to a shootout, in which Jason Robertson, Matt Duchene and Wyatt Johnston scored while Jake Oettinger made a key save on San Jose’s first shooter.
The 4-0 start is Dallas’ best since 2020-21.
“A win’s a win in this league,” Stars head coach Pete DeBoer said postgame. “You’ve got to find a way to bank as many points as you can, and we found a way.”
The Stars found themselves in an unfamiliar position multiple times in the game: trailing.
After a quiet, goal-less first period, San Jose struck first. Both of its second-period goals came in transition, and the first was a 2-on-1 where Tyler Toffoli buried a shot. It marked the first time the Stars have trailed all season and the first goal they allowed at home.
Six minutes later, Dallas found the first equalizer. Logan Stankoven and Mason Marchment set up the play where Marchment found Duchene driving to the net for his first goal of the year.
Another breakaway on a Stars turnover gave San Jose’s Nico Strum a 1-on-1 chance at Oettinger. While the Stars goalie blocked the initial start, his former roommate and best friend Ty Dellandrea, whom Dallas traded to San Jose in the offseason, came barreling in and cleaned up the rebound.
But that lead also held for just two minutes. The Stars had a new top-line combination Tuesday because of Mavrik Bourque’s return to the lineup. Johnston joined Jason Robertson and Roope Hintz on the right wing, as was planned from the beginning of the season. They combined for a stunning goal where Hintz ended up with the puck in the slot, tying the game at 2-2 and ultimately sending the game to overtime a period later.
The Stars have still trailed for just 7:39 of their 245 minutes of play this season.
Even though the Stars didn’t post a third consecutive shutout, Dallas turned in another solid defensive performance, allowing just 27 San Jose shots to their 38. Through four games, the Stars have allowed just five goals.
However, they haven’t yet found an answer on the power play. After Marchment’s power-play goal in the first game of the season, the Stars have gone cold on the man-advantage and are 1 for 13 on the year.
“We could’ve had a couple early on,” Duchene said. “The biggest trap in this sport is to get hung up on results and not the process. I thought our process was a lot better tonight at times. We’ve just got to stick with it.”
That included the Stars coming up empty on a four-minute double minor in the first period Tuesday and again for 43 seconds of a 4-on-3 advantage in overtime.
The penalty kill bailed them out, especially in the third period. They survived 1:36 of 5-on-3 and killed off another midway through the period.
“We were able to pressure quite a lot today,” Stars defenseman Esa Lindell said. “Many clears, so they didn’t even have that many chances or shots. I really liked the 5-on-3 today.”
The Stars will hit the road next to face the Capitals in Washington on Thursday.
