{"id":517794,"date":"2026-03-23T03:28:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T03:28:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/517794\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T03:28:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T03:28:18","slug":"stars-offense-dries-up-against-golden-knights-as-dallas-drops-third-in-four-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/517794\/","title":{"rendered":"Stars offense dries up against Golden Knights as Dallas drops third in four games"},"content":{"rendered":"

The injuries to Mikko Rantanen and Roope Hintz<\/a> might be finally catching up to the Dallas Stars<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dallas has played without two of its top-line forwards for nearly a month now. While the Stars managed to collect points in nine straight games out of the Olympic break, their offense has now dried up. The Stars have lost three of their last four games, including Sunday\u2019s against the Vegas Golden Knights 3-2 after Vegas\u2019 Reilly Smith scored the game winner with 3:38 left in regulation.<\/p>\n

Since the 7-2 rout of the Edmonton Oilers<\/a> on March 12, Dallas is averaging 2.2 goals per game. In Sunday\u2019s loss, the Stars posted 16 shots on goal. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a lot of emotional hockey we\u2019ve played,\u201d Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said. \u201cYou can see a little bit of our offense is drying up. We\u2019ve survived this stretch with some key offensive guys out. To win, we\u2019ve played really, really hard. At some point, that\u2019s a natural part of the season. But we\u2019ve got to find it quickly here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sports Roundup<\/p>\n

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Hintz has played in one game since the Olympics, first missing time with an illness before suffering a lower-body injury against Colorado on March 6. He is expected to return just before the playoffs. Rantanen has not played since the Olympics, where he was injured while playing for Team Finland but is expected to return as soon as next week.<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/p>\n

The Stars had a chance to secure a playoff spot for the fifth consecutive season if they earned one point against Vegas. They could still clinch if the Utah Mammoth defeat the Los Angeles Kings later Sunday night in any fashion.<\/p>\n

The Stars looked sloppy Sunday on the second night of a back-to-back against two contending teams. Defensive breakdowns began in the game\u2019s opening minutes when Golden Knights defenseman Brayden McNabb carried the puck himself through the neutral and offensive zones and scored on Casey DeSmith without being challenged by the Stars\u2019 defense.<\/p>\n

Dallas responded quickly to the slow start, as 22-year-old forward Wyatt Johnston set a franchise record<\/a> for most power-play goals in a season with his 23rd of the year. Johnston passed Minnesota North Star Dino Ciccarelli\u2019s 22 goals scored in 1986-87 \u2014 a record nearly twice as old as Johnston is.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe guys out there have been so good at finding me in the middle,\u201d Johnston said. \u201cJust trying to do what I can to help the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Stars took the lead shortly after. Rookie Justin Hryckowian made a persistent play in front of the net to score his 11th goal of the season<\/a>. But Dallas\u2019 offense dried up from there. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of what it\u2019s like in playoffs,\u201d Johnston said. \u201cYou\u2019re not going to go in and expect to win 5-4 every night.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Stars recorded nine shots on net through 40 minutes and were outshot 11-3 by Vegas in the second period. Ivan Barbashev tied the score around the midway point of the second on the power play. <\/p>\n

The Stars had a chance to regain the lead before the second intermission after Jack Eichel committed a high-sticking penalty against Mavrik Bourque that was flagged as a double minor. However, the Stars did not register a single shot on goal during the four-minute power play that followed. The Stars also didn\u2019t score on a four-minute power play Saturday in Minnesota late in the game.<\/p>\n

DeSmith and Golden Knights goalie Adin Hill made highlight-reel saves down the stretch. But a rebound that landed in a perfect spot for Smith, the former Star, finished off Dallas with less than four minutes remaining.<\/p>\n

DeSmith still made 30 saves on the night. Hill had an easier night, finishing with 13 saves. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe gave us a chance,\u201d Gulutzan said of DeSmith. \u201cSometimes, as a coach, you read your team, and I said to [goaltending coach Jeff Reese], \u2018He might have to stop 40 tonight,\u2019 just by looking at our guys. He was the reason it was 2-2 for so long.\u201d<\/p>\n

Snowflakes flying: See photos from the Stars’ game against the Golden Knights<\/p>\n

\"DallasView Gallery\"Dallas<\/a>Stars\u2019 Wyatt Johnston breaks franchise single-season power play goals record<\/a><\/p>\n

He did it with a game-tying goal against the Vegas Golden Knights as Dallas tries to clinch a playoff berth.<\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/a>Stars GM Jim Nill offers injury updates for Mikko Rantanen, Roope Hintz and Radek Faksa<\/a><\/p>\n

Rantanen is closest to a return, while the timelines for Hintz and Faksa remain more up in the air.<\/p>\n

Find more Stars coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The injuries to Mikko Rantanen and Roope Hintz might be finally catching up to the Dallas Stars. Dallas…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":517795,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5117],"tags":[2322,196,147,5278,5,4,43,197,1531],"class_list":{"0":"post-517794","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-stars","8":"tag-american-airlines-center","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-dallas-stars","11":"tag-dallasstars","12":"tag-hockey","13":"tag-nhl","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-stars","16":"tag-wyatt-johnston"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116276371197792562","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=517794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/517795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=517794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=517794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=517794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}