DALLAS _ Just before facing the Nashville Predators on Saturday afternoon, the Stars' defense, which has been depleted by injuries, restocked with AHL call-ups and then depleted again, took another hit: the team announced defenseman Roman Polak would miss the game with an illness.
A game after losing John Klingberg at least four weeks to an injury that required surgery, with defensemen Stephen Johns (post-traumatic headaches) and Connor Carrick (foot) also on injured reserve, and with a host of newcomers filling out the roster, the Stars used their 10th defenseman this season.
Against the Predators, a team tied for the NHL's best record at 12-3 and averaging 3.4 goals a game, the lack of depth and unfamiliarity could spell trouble, right?
For most of three periods, it didn't. Then Nashville scored in the final minute of regulation and again midway through a five-minute overtime to hand the Stars a 5-4 home loss.
Players and first-year coach Jim Montgomery said the Stars' makeshift defensive lineup showed positive signs against the Western Conference-leading Predators. But losing two leads in the third period left them lamenting the opportunity to gain with two points, instead of one, in the Central Division clash.
"It would've been a real feel-good moment for us to win the game," Jason Spezza said. "That's one of the best teams in the league. We played with them. Probably should've won (today), and that should springboard us knowing that with the injuries we have we can still compete every night and be good.
In Klingberg's absence, the Stars expected to rely more in rookie Miro Heiskanen and Julius Honka, and they did. The duo led the team with 29:26 and 17:49 in ice time, respectively.
While Honka, who's played in the Stars' last 14 games after starting the season as a healthy scratch, had a lapse that led to a Nashville goal 12 seconds into the second period that tied the game at 1, he responded with an assist to Tyler Seguin for a 2-1 lead about seven minutes later.
The Stars didn't _ or maybe they couldn't _ shield their recent arrivals from expansive roles, either.
Defenseman Ben Gleason, who was in his car driving from Cedar Park about 15 minutes after his phone rang at 7:30 a.m. Saturday to summon him for his NHL debut, played 18 minutes and assisted wing Denis Gurianov on a third-period goal to give the Stars' a 4-3 lead with 11 minutes remaining.
Gurianov's first career point on that score came a game after he his NHL debut Thursday in a 4-3 win over the San Jose Sharks. Defenseman Joel Hanley also logged 18 minutes after moving up from AHL affiliate Texas on Friday.
"It's playing in the NHL," Gleason said. "It's a thing you're dreaming of when you're a kid, so it's definitely something everybody's thought about, and I was excited to have one today."
Despite new faces across the ice, the Stars continued their penalty kill success, nixing four of Nashville's five power plays. While Nashville's league-worst man-up unit entered the game converting at 13 percent, Roman Josi netted the last past Ben Bishop with 42.5 seconds left in regulation to tie the game at 4.
Nashville then denied a Dallas power play that carried over into the sudden-death overtime, Mattias Ekholm scored the game-winner 2:27 into the extra period, and the injury-riddled Stars skated off the ice in front of their sellout American Airlines Center crowd with a third loss in the last four games.
"You can tell that we were young. On the back end, we weren't as crisp," Montgomery said. "But I like the fight. I thought a lot of the defensemen played really well for us (today), and it's just too bad that we couldn't hold onto the lead."
