Miro Heiskanen gave Dallas a level score before the second intermission. His wrist shot with 15:03 gone in the period erased Colorado’s 1-0 lead and put a defenseman on the scoresheet when the Stars had little offense to spare.
Dallas eventually won 3-2 in a shootout at Ball Arena on Wednesday. The teams were tied 2-2 through overtime, with the Stars producing 22 shots to Colorado’s 27. Heiskanen supplied their only even-strength goal. A contribution from that position was valuable without requiring a claim that Dallas had dominated the game.
Colorado opened the scoring at 4:55 of the second period, when Gabriel Landeskog finished a play assisted by Nazem Kadri and Sam Malinski. Heiskanen answered later in the period. That timing mattered because Dallas had no shot-volume cushion to spend. A one-goal deficit in a 22-shot performance can become a large problem quickly, particularly against a team that finished with a 27-22 advantage in shots.
Rantanen and Thomas Harley earned assists on Heiskanen’s goal. Three players received scoring credit, with a defenseman applying the finish. Dallas did not need every chance to end on a forward’s stick. It did need someone to turn an opportunity into a goal after Landeskog had given Colorado the lead.
Harley also received an assist, so two defensemen shared scoring credit on Dallas’ equalizer. That matters in a game when Colorado was getting goals from Landeskog and Nelson. Dallas needed contributions from different parts of its lineup, and this play supplied them without waiting for its power play to help.
That mattered again in the third period, though in a completely different fashion. At 1:20, Arttu Hyry scored an unassisted backhand while shorthanded, putting Dallas ahead 2-1. Colorado answered at 8:21 through Brock Nelson’s wrist shot, assisted by Artturi Lehkonen and Kadri. No further regulation goal followed.
Dallas’ regulation goals came from different situations. Heiskanen tied it at even strength in the second period; Hyry put the Stars ahead while short-handed in the third. That variety allowed Dallas to score without relying on its power play. Neither of its two advantages produced a goal.
The penalty ledger helped keep that narrow margin intact. Dallas went 0-for-2 on the power play, while Colorado went 0-for-4. Neither club scored with the extra skater, but Dallas’ penalty kill denied four Colorado opportunities that could have supplied the separation its shot edge suggested might arrive.
The Stars also blocked 19 shots and won 54.4% of their faceoffs. Those figures describe resistance more than control, which is precisely why the game remained available to Dallas after Colorado had done more of the shooting.
