Thomas Harley and Miro Heiskanen had been stuck on the ice for nearly two minutes before Boston regained the lead. James Hagens supplied the finish, redirecting Casey Mittelstadt’s feed in the second period. Dallas supplied the uncomfortable reminder that replacing a defenseman involves more than filling his place on a lineup sheet.
The Stars won 3-2 in overtime Tuesday at American Airlines Center, with Mikko Rantanen scoring all three goals. They also began dealing with an absence announced that morning: Esa Lindell’s lower-body injury would require an absence lasting a week or longer. The victory was valuable. The work required from the remaining defensemen was worth examining separately.
Heiskanen played 29:33. Harley logged 27:50. Those are substantial assignments within a game that lasted into overtime, and the long shift before Hagens’ goal made their demands visible. The goal itself cannot be reduced to a claim that tired legs caused it. Mittelstadt created the feed and Hagens executed the redirection. Boston deserves credit for that sequence.
But the sequence does illustrate the problem Dallas must manage. A reshuffled defense still needs players to handle difficult passages, return for later responsibilities and contribute when a scoring chance finally appears. The team cannot make Lindell’s work disappear simply because he is unavailable. Someone has to take the minutes, with the rest of the lineup adjusting around that change.
Tuesday’s supporting group did provide real work. Nils Lundkvist contributed 15:43, while Myers played 17:47 and Bichsel 16:29. Kyle Capobianco added 13:32. Those contributions belong in the assessment of the win. They were part of a defense that limited Boston to 20 shots and helped Dallas survive four opposition power plays.
It would be too much to turn one night into proof that any combination of those players can cover every future assignment. Their minutes show participation, while the result shows that Dallas found enough from the group to win this game. Neither tells us that the next opponent will ask the same questions or that every defensive pairing worked equally well.
The offense made the defensive task particularly demanding late. Dallas’ entire third period produced two shots that reached Swayman. One was Rantanen’s equalizer, scored with 6:22 remaining after the puck reached him following a blocked Roope Hintz attempt. That kept the opportunity alive without giving the Stars a comfortable interval in which to manage the clock from ahead.
Boston had already led twice. Poitras scored early in the first period; Rantanen answered in the second before Hagens restored the advantage. Through all of that, Dallas had to keep its reshuffled blue line functioning while waiting for another scoring response. Jake Oettinger stopped 18 shots, a useful contribution within a tightly held game.
