One empty power play is a thin piece of evidence, even when the final score makes every missed chance feel larger. The Dallas Stars went 0-for-1 with the man advantage Thursday in Columbus, then lost 2-1 in a shootout. That is frustrating. It is not a serious case for rebuilding the power play.
The bigger issue arrived at even strength, where Dallas scored once and could not add the cushion required against Cam Talbot. Columbus gave the Stars only one power play, while Dallas killed both Blue Jackets opportunities.
That limited special-teams sample says more about the shape of the game than the health of either unit: there simply were not enough Dallas chances to turn one unsuccessful sequence into a verdict.
Casey DeSmith did his part at the other end, stopping 29 of 30 shots across 65:00. Dallas also held Columbus without a regulation power-play goal and limited the Blue Jackets to one goal before the shootout. With Miro Heiskanen unavailable, that defensive work mattered. The Stars were not overwhelmed; Columbus had 30 shots to Dallas’ 28.
Still, defensive competence cannot manufacture separation. Zach Werenski tied the game when the third-period clock reached 16:46, with 3:14 remaining, sending a backhand over DeSmith’s left pad after entering from the left circle. Kent Johnson and Matthew Knies assisted.
Columbus did not need a power play to erase the lead, and Dallas did not need to surrender a flood of chances for the game to turn. The one-goal margin simply remained vulnerable.
Talbot supplied the reason the margin stayed so narrow. At 9:16 of the second period, he reached for a scrambling glove stop on Esa Lindell’s wrist shot near the right post. Later in the period, at 16:45, he denied Jason Robertson after Robertson broke in alone, using his left pad. Those were different situations, and both preserved a scoreless game.
That is the part of the night worth carrying forward. Dallas was not facing a goalie merely waiting for the Stars to solve themselves. Talbot made difficult saves before the Stars finally found a way through, and he finished with 27 saves on 28 shots.
His performance does not excuse every Dallas attack, but it changes the standard for judging the team’s one-goal output. Against that kind of resistance, one finish may begin a winning script. It rarely completes one.
Rantanen scored Dallas’ goal with 6:27 elapsed in the third. The play started with Provorov giving up the puck. Johnston got a shot away, Talbot saved it, and Rantanen finished the rebound from beside the net. His patience produced the first Dallas goal, his ninth this season and a continuation of a three-game goal streak.
The sequence was a good example of why the Stars needed another goal rather than a better headline from the power play. Johnston made use of Provorov’s giveaway. Talbot erased the first attempt. Rantanen finished the second chance. Dallas had done enough to lead, but not enough to make one opposing save or one Columbus rush harmless.