Now one loss away from elimination, the Stars haven’t been able to score 5-on-5 and haven’t received the contributions from depth players needed to survive a demanding first-round series with the Minnesota Wild.
“It’s not like we’re not trying,” Stars captain Jamie Benn said.
Whether Benn and his teammates will admit it or not, frustration has to be setting in for the Stars. They’ve dropped their last two games — one where they were five minutes away from taking a 3-1 lead in the series, and the other in a critical contest on home ice. And they’ve had little success resolving most of the issues that have followed them through five games now.
The Stars went yet another game without a 5-on-5 goal. They haven’t scored one since just 13:48 into Game 3, and Minnesota has since taken an 11-3 scoring advantage in those situations.
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As lopsided as the scoreboard has been 5-on-5, Dallas has generated chances. In fact, the Stars held a 26-15 advantage in 5-on-5 scoring chances Tuesday night.
Some combination of Wild goalie Jesper Wallstedt, the Minnesota defense and the Stars’ own inability to capitalize on chances has turned so few of those looks into goals.
“We did get to the interior with some attempts,” Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said. “Some got blocked, and some we plain old missed. This time of the year, you need to be dialed in there and get some of those.”
The Stars also extended a concerning trend of leaning too heavily on Jason Robertson and not enough on anyone else. Robertson scored for the fifth straight game, leading all scorers in the series.
However, he is one of just five Stars players to score, alongside Wyatt Johnston, Matt Duchene, Miro Heiskanen and Mikko Rantanen. Robertson and Johnston are the only two Stars players to score 5-on-5.
Dallas needs more from any of its depth players. Mavrik Bourque, Benn, Michael Bunting, Justin Hryckowian and Sam Steel all finished the regular season with double-digit goals. The Stars could also use more from Rantanen, who had nine goals last playoffs, but has just one in five games.
“Everyone needs to step up in these kinds of moments,” Gulutzan said. “Your top guys, your bottom guys. It’s a team effort to kind of get it done.”
The Stars have tried to stay steady all season. Whether they were on a franchise-record 15-game points streak or a multi-week losing streak, the Stars have said their even-keeled nature differentiates them. They say it’s a sign of a mature group.
They’ve looked more to the process than the results, trying not to make impulsive decisions. Even in the playoffs after losses, they’ve made minimal changes. After the Game 1 loss, the Stars only brought forward Arttu Hyry into the lineup to help address the penalty kill, but stuck with the same defensemen. After the Game 4 loss, the only lineup change Dallas made was to replace an injured Nils Lundkvist with Ilya Lyubushkin.
But the Stars are running out of time and need something to change in Game 6.
Maybe that’s bringing in Alexander Petrovic or Kyle Capobianco for Tyler Myers, who struggled Tuesday and helped cause two of Minnesota’s goals, or bringing in Bunting, a trade deadline acquisition, for his first game of the playoffs.
With an injury to Hyry, the Stars have no choice but to make a change. Facing elimination, the need for a change becomes even more imperative.
Because if they don’t, there’s no guarantee they will return to American Airlines Center before September.
“Your backs are against the wall, so it’s pretty simple,” Rantanen said. “Leave it all out there in Minnesota, the next game, and see where it takes us. That’s all we can do and get home for Game 7. That’s our plan.”