It got dicey there at the end, but the Dallas Stars (31-14-9) found a way to beat the Vegas Golden Knights (25-14-14) 5-4 in a shootout on Thursday night, after choking away a 4-1 lead in the third period.
Related: 3 Takeaways From Stars’ 4-3 Victory Over Blues
Mavrik Bourque scored twice, Matt Duchene scored in his third straight game, and Jake Oettinger made 18 saves in the win.
Matt Duchene Stays Hot In Vegas
After a tumultuous start to 2025-26, Duchene now has four goals in three games, bringing his total to eight on the season. He has played 29 games and has had a hard time finding his rhythm, dating back to before the upper-body injury he suffered early in the season.
As we discussed after Tuesday’s game, Duchene had been playing alongside Mason Marchment and Tyler Seguin for years, but Marchment was traded in the summer, and Seguin is out with an injury and could miss the rest of the season. Playing without them would have been an adjustment anyway, without missing half the season.
Before this season, Duchene had 55 goals and 147 points in 162 games in Victory Green, including 30 goals and 82 points last season. His production has been paramount to the team’s depth scoring, and will continue to be as they prepare for another long playoff run.
Mavrik Bourque Has a Big Night. Finally
Speaking of depth scoring, it was 24-year-old Bourque’s turn to have a big night. For the first time in his 128-game career, Bourque scored twice in the same night, and the Stars desperately need him to keep producing.
We went over this briefly the other night, but Johnston, Mikko Rantanen, Jason Robertson, and Roope Hintz are the only Stars forwards with more than 41 points. They were also the only players who had 10 or more goals, that is, until Bourque scored his ninth and 10th on Thursday night.
The Stars are eighth in the NHL in goals scored. Not too shabby. But, at some point, other players will have to start consistently putting pucks into the net, and Bourque needs to be one of them. He was terrific in two seasons with the Texas Stars of the American Hockey League, including winning MVP honors in 2023-24 with 26 goals and 77 points. However, he’s had trouble making the same impact in the NHL.
Bourque is a steady and reliable two-way player. He’s responsible in his own end (for the most part) and works incredibly hard offensively. That’s nice and all, but the Stars have plenty of that. He has 21 goals in 128 games. That is where the Stars need him to grow, and there’s no better time than now.
3rd Periods Have Not Been Fun For Stars
I hate to keep going back to Tuesday night’s 4-3 win over the St. Louis Blues, but the signs were so obvious that it can’t be helped. For the second straight game, the Stars blew a three-goal lead in the third, only to find a way to salvage two points in the end.
In the last two games, the Stars played 83 minutes of solid, playoff-caliber hockey. However, for the other 37 minutes, they got too comfortable and rested on their laurels. They’ve done it all season long, but especially in the last five weeks.
The Golden Knights are a good team, maybe even a great one. They have players who can crawl back from a three-goal deficit. It’s not about that. We have seen this type of meltdown from the Stars way too often this season, but it’s not really about that either. We saw this two days ago. For a team with Stanley Cup aspirations that recently coughed up a three-goal lead and escaped the game without consequence, this should not have happened again and not in the very next contest. It did, and again they escaped with two points. Good for them, but they cannot expect to keep getting away with it.
Stars to Host Vegas In Stadium Series Game Next February
We already knew that the Stars will host a Stadium Series game at AT&T Stadium next February. We didn’t know that their opponent will be the Golden Knights. We found that out just before the puck dropped on Thursday, and it’s going to be a spectacle.
The Stars and Golden Knights have played each other three times in the postseason, but I would have liked a more recent opponent, like the Colorado Avalanche, who the Stars bested in seven games in their first-round series last season. The Philadelphia Flyers would have also been fun, based on the fact that their two football teams hate each other. Regardless, it should be a great event, and hopefully, an even better game.
Next Up for the Stars
The Stars finish their three-game road trip on Saturday against the Utah Mammoth. They will then host the Winnipeg Jets on Monday and the Blues on Wednesday before a three-week hiatus for the 2026 Winter Olympics.
