The Dallas Stars scored 47 seconds into the first period but not again in a 2-1 loss against the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena on Saturday.
Hryckowian – Johnston – Rantanen
Robertson – Hintz – Seguin
Steel – Hyry – Benn
Bäck – Faksa – Blackwell
Harley – Heiskanen
Lindell – Lundkvist
Bichsel – Myers
DeSmith
Oettinger
Scratches:Kiviranta, Capobianco, Duchene (injured)
Former Stars forward Mavrik Bourque played his first game against Dallas tonight in Nashville.
Bourque was traded to Nashville in the summer along with Ilya Lyubushkin due to the incredibly tight salary cap situation in Dallas. After scoring 20 goals and being a big part of the Stars future, mind you.
Bourque will always be one of my favorite players to cover. He is not only a funny kid with an excellent French accent, but he is also down-to-earth and loves to chat about what books he's reading (I will have to find out if the Stars still have a book club without Bourque) or movies he's watching.
But my favorite part about him is how honest he is about his game. When he is in a slump or not picking up points, he's hard on himself. When he is only picking up assists, he's hard on himself for not scoring. And even last year after scoring 20 goals, he was hard on himself, telling me he feels like he hasn't actually beaten an NHL goalie clean with his shot yet. I believe that drive will make him a 30+ goal scorer in the NHL.
Here is what he had to say this morning about facing his former club and some of his buddies:
I think he's talking about facing Wyatt Johnston in the faceoff dot and battling with Thomas Harley at the net front. But that's just my educated guess.
Bourque played 18:05 and finished 6/10 on the dot tonight. He is still looking for his first point as a Pred.
The second period tonight was quite boring. Not a lot of shots, fewer chances, and no goals.
But those periods happen. My concern is that Dallas has not created much of anything since Miro Heiskanen opened the scoring 47 seconds in.
Which, by the way, was a beautiful job by Heiskanen to jump the faceoff win, carry the puck down low, and eventually find a loose puck and get it past a host of shot blockers and bodies in the slot. Have a look for yourself if you don't believe me!
But outside of that and maybe a power-play chance by Johnston, there has not been a whole lot of offense through five periods this season. It takes time. I get that. And I am not panicking or saying this team stinks. But it is a bit alarming to see the same 5v5 production issues that essentially ended their season early last spring creeping in to start 2026-27. And no power-play heroics to overcome it.
Something to track as the season goes on here.
This game was pretty dull. Not a lot of big saves, hits, or goals.
That made me realize how long the NHL season really is. Especially when you get a chunk of these games. 82 is already long. You feel it in January and March. Now, we have two more divisional games instead of preseason. It's going to feel long.
But here's how you limit that feeling. Play a more exciting brand of hockey. Dallas wants to do that, but they haven't yet.
We made a joke tonight in the DLLS studio that Dallas needs to just play Minnesota in every game of the season. Those games feature fights and hits and pure chaos. They are never dull. We need more of that. And that's where Justin Hryckowian and Lian Bichsel come in with hits or fights. It's where Jamie Benn can stand out. It's where Rantanen or Jason Robertson take over and score a highlight-reel goal or natural hat trick.
Let's get some more of that. Tonight, not so much.
Casey DeSmith took the right post in a very sensitive area, as a Nashville forward slid into him.
Juuse Saros losing his glove on his own post was certainly something.
Bourque easily beat Arttu Hyry on a faceoff.
Amazon Prime has been just okay. It's much cleaner and faster than Victory was, especially how quickly you can scan and jump around and how you don't get stuck in the ad breaks… although we were constantly behind and missing chunks of playing time during ads. But the scorebug has had issues, the time has been janky, some of the camera angles were not ideal (I am looking at you, weird bubble cam next to the offensive-zone faceoff circles). I imagine it will only get better.
Heiskanen has been very good tonight. Maybe the best player in the game.
I would trade a lot of players for Ryan O'Reilly. Even at his age. What a player and hockey mind.
Miami is rolling Clemson right now. So that's cool.
Bourque and Bichsel with a little pushing and shoving and some smiles.
Fans are NOT happy with the start to this season. Even if a lot of it is overreaction, I get the frustration. Some of the fears have come true through two games.
Johnston with a huge blocked shot and then whacks it down the ice out of mid-air. Would have been a huge chance for Nashville.
This feels like a great time for a Mikko Rantanen takeover or a power-play goal like they got so many times last year in these type of games.
Some wacky line shuffling from Glen Gulutzan in the third period: Robertson-Hintz-Benn, Steel-Johnston-Rantanen, and Hryckowian-Hyry-Seguin. Also saw some Robertson-Johnston-Rantanen loading up, including a long shift where O'Reilly had no stick. But no super dangerous chances and no goals.
Dallas plays San Jose at home on Monday to complete three games in four nights to start the season. Tough assignment, but they have to find a way to get two points in that game. Don't start 0-3.
