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Dallas Stars center Wyatt Johnston and left wing Jason Robertson skate off the ice after Johnston scores a power-play goal against the Los Angeles Kings (Jerome Miron-Imagn Images)

2 Takeaways From Stars’ 3-2 OT Loss to Kings

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers | By Marc Sautter | Last updated Oct 24, 2025 11:10 AM ET

After a hot 3-0-0 start, the Dallas Stars fall yet again, this time to the Los Angeles Kings, on Thursday night at American Airlines Center.

On the positive side, they battled back twice from one-goal deficits to get a point and stop the bleeding that has taken place over the last week. On the negative side, they still lost the game, and have another tough night ahead of them with the Carolina Hurricanes coming to town on Saturday.

There are a few things to get to, so let’s dive in.

Snipers Still Sniping

Our first takeaway is a positive one, but there’s a tinge of negative mixed in here. In the first three games, the Stars scored 15 goals. In the four games since, they’ve scored seven. We’re going to talk about the two power-play goals they scored in a minute, but their 5-on-5 scoring has fallen off a cliff, and they are obviously going to have to figure that out moving forward. That being said, it’s encouraging to see that Jason Robertson and Wyatt Johnston are still putting up points, even if it is in a losing effort.

Johnston has five goals and eight points, and has a point in all but one game, and a goal in all but two. That is a great start for a young player who is looking to have 30-plus goals for his third straight season. Robertson is right behind Johnston with three goals and seven points to start his season, and has recorded a point in five of Dallas’ seven games.

While the Stars are still stacked with scorers and playmakers like Mikko Rantanen, Roope Hintz, Matt Duchene, and Tyler Seguin, a good chunk of their depth scoring walked out the door in the summer. The Stars will be relying on Robertson and Johnston this season, maybe more than ever, so it’s important that these two remain productive, even in a hard-fought loss.

Special Teams Up and Down to Start the Season

Typically, when we say something is up and down, we are speaking as a whole. Well, in this case, the two sides of the Stars’ special teams are quite literally up and down. Since we’re hanging out after a loss, let’s keep the positivity going and start with the side that is up.

In the first three months of last season, the Stars’ power play was a major problem, and it entered the new year at 15.3%. They ended up finishing the season at 22%, but were still 17th in the NHL in that department.

One of the big talking points when new head coach Glen Gulutzan was hired was the excellent job he did in Edmonton to turn around the power-play fortunes of the Edmonton Oilers. The Stars may not have two of the best players in the world, but through seven games, the Stars are third in the NHL with a 31.8% power play, and whatever he’s doing being the scenes with his coaching staff is clearly working.

The “down” part of this takeaway is the penalty kill. Much like the power play was bad to start the 2024-25 season, the penalty kill was terrific all of last season, and has been for years running. Last season, the Stars were fourth on the penalty kill at 82.0%. As of now, they are 30th in the NHL at 65.2% and allowed another goal on the PK last night.

The Stars have earned the right for us to assume that their special teams will balance themselves out. But right now, it cannot be denied that the penalty kill is costing the Stars chances to win hockey games.

Just Breathe, It Will Be Okay

The Stars got the much-talked-about “new coach bump” to start the season, jumping out to a 3-0-0 start. Since then, it’s been nothing but L’s, although getting a point last night is certainly better than the zero points they earned in the previous three games.

There’s no denying that there are points of concern for the Stars right now. We talked about the special teams. Thomas Harley and the defense have had a difficult start, and Jake Oettinger seems to let in at least one shaky goal every night.

However, Stars fans, you’re not alone. There are plenty of good teams that are not getting results right now. The Toronto Maple Leafs, who have high expectations every season, are 3-3-1. The Tampa Bay Lightning are 1-4-2 and the two-time defending champion Florida Panthers are 4-5-0. In the West, the Oilers and the Minnesota Wild are 4-3-1, and the team the Stars just played are 3-3-2. There’s plenty of mediocrity to go around amongst the good teams. The good news? There are still 75 games to get this right.