Preseason Game 1 AfterThoughts: Binnington Still Binnington, but Stars Still Stars

Outshooting a team is supposed to lead to good things. It finally did.

Sep 21, 2025

The Stars won a preseason game in a shootout, which is a little bit like winning a County Fair Potato Sack Race against a bunch of random passersby.

Then again, if you're a member of a professional potato sack racing team whose job it is to win those potato sack races on a consistent basis against better opposition, you take every positive you can.

In this game, for example, the Stars got a couple of saves when they needed them, and a big goal from Mavrik Bourque. But as an NHL coach, you can be sure that Gulutzan is paying attention to a lot more than just the biggest results.

“We put some emphasis on our line rush against and how hard we’re coming back,”
said Gulutzan afterward. “And we didn’t give up many odd man rushes, right?”

The Stars head coach pointed out that all the best teams are good at minimizing rush chances again, and his goal is for the Stars to be one of those teams. And despite a couple of looks for St. Louis, the Stars by and large didn’t look as sloppy as their counterparts, which matters in a game where the Stars weren’t playing pretty much anyone from the top half of their expected NHL lineup—unless you count Mavrik Bourque, who did finish.

So while the high-end finishing talent wasn’t necessarily present, the Stars still stuck with the program, from their coach’s point of view. And Gulutzan said he told the team just yesterday that the focus was on stacking “good plays on good plays,” and “good days on good days.” And the Stars’ only goal of the first 65 minutes was a great example.

Radek Faksa’s line took the puck in deep, and after an extended board battle that the Stars ended up winning in the offensive zone, Mavrik Bourque came on as the Stars got a change in, and Alex Petrovic sent a one-timer on net from the point. It bounced off Binnington and rattled off Adam Erne on the doorstep, but Bourque was there to slam the puck home to tie things up.

“If you look at our first goal,” Gulutzan said, “We kind of built it. I told them in between periods, that’s what I liked. It was a team-built goal, shift after shift after shift. Then we got them in the O-zone, and Faks changed and got new guys on, and new blood, and we built it. And then we got it, Borquey got it.”

That goal was especially cathartic for Stars fans, given how often they’ve seen Jordan Binnington shut down the Stars for extended periods of time. So for the Stars to enter the third period with a tie game rather than having to come back against a Jim Montgomery team ended up being the difference.

“I feel like it doesn’t matter who’s in the lineup,” said Radek Faksa. “Dallas against St. Louis, it’s always a grind. It’s always a two-goal game, you know?”

Thankfully for Stars fans, this game didn’t go to a full-on overtime, or double overtime. Because Sam Steel ensured things wrapped up on time.

Fittingly, that was the only goal of the shootout.

The Stars began with the below lineup, which featured Mavrik Bourque playing center on the top line (such as it is), and he looked like one of their best players in this one after working a bit of overtry out of his game early to wind up with a solid game under his belt:

Steel-Bourque-Blackwell
Erne-Faksa-Bastian
Bäck-Hryckowian-Lind
Stranges-Hyry-Hemming

Kolyachonok-Lundkvist
Taylor-Petrovic
Capobianco-White

Poirier began in net.

(If you missed it, I had an interesting conversation with a few players after morning skate today, including Bibeau and Poirier.)

The Blues rolled out this lineup (and no, not that Carbonneau):

Holloway-Dvorský-Carbonneau
Toropchenko-Walker-Kaskimäki
Robertsson-Peca-Susuev
Jecho-Dorion-Luff

Broberg-Mailloux
Lindstein-Kessel
Fischer-McIsaac

Binnington
Ellis

At the start of the third period, the goalies swapped out. Antoine Bibeau came in for Dallas, while Colten Ellis replaced Binnington for the Blues.

If you’re curious how the usage worked itself out, then here’s a great HockeyViz chart that illustrates each player’s respective ice time in different situations:

The only terribly interesting things about those combinations, to me, were that Adam Erne played where Oskar Bäck had been skating in training camp prior. But whether this was a chance to give Erne some NHL linemates to show what he can do, or just a strategic decision to add Bäck to a line with two AHL scorers in Hryckowian and Lind to add some size and defensive balance, I’ll leave up to you to decide.

Adam Erne got a point on Bourque’s goal, where he was properly positioned at the net-front. He also got a gift of a chance six minutes in, when Matthew Peca lost the puck as he tried to take it behind the net, and it bounced perfectly for Erne to grab and tuck it inside the post, with Jordan Binnington looking the wrong way. But Erne wasn’t quite able to wrap his backhand tightly enough, and he put it into the goalie’s skate.

The Stars have seen veterans on PTO in training camp before, and I suspect the same thing is true that has been true in the past: Erne will have his work cut out for him in the remaining time in camp in order to win a spot.

Backing up a second, calling Hryckowian a “scorer” is perhaps not how he looked in this game, and I mean that in a generally positive sense. Hryckowian actually said he wasn’t a big fan of his game with the puck tonight, but that’s not exactly unheard-of for players in the first preseason game of the year.

Hryckowian took a high-sticking penalty late in the third as well, but some great killing from the Stars’ shorthanded group, got them through it. And then, Hryckowian got a glorious chance to redeem himself after getting a 2-on-1 right after he jumped out of the box. But despite a nice pass from Erne to set him up, Ellis spoiled Hryckowian’s chance to win the game with a big-time stop.

The Blues’ young goalie was very good coming on in relief for Binnington, by the way. He hasn’t hit the NHL yet, but if one period and five minutes of overtime is any indication, he’s got himself a lot of runway in his hockey career.

The big moment of the game for Hryckowian, however, came when he and Nathan Walker dropped the gloves four minutes in. Walker (who had five NHL fights last year) got a couple of shots in early that showed up after the game, but the reigning winner of the AHL’s Most Outstanding Rookie award ended up holding his own fairly well.

Walker has fought multiple Stars players in his career, whether they were on the Stars at the time or not. The list includes familiar old friends like Joel Hanley (multiple times!), Ty Dellandera, and Gavin Bayreuther. Perhaps the Stars need to do a game in Australia (from which Walker hails) to make amends or something.

So, does this mean Hryckowian is looking to become a big fighter for his team?

“I dunno, I’m just a hockey player,” Hryckowian laughed after the game. “It is what it is.”

Hryckowian said afterwards that he asked Walker to drop the mitts, and the veteran NHLer obliged. So, you can’t say Hryckowian didn’t get what he asked for.

Hryckowian was sporting a pretty decent shiner after the game, but he was all smiles, as you’d expect.

In the Stars’ defensive zone, some small things jumped out to me as far as differences from last year. The forward group seemed a bit more active on the puck-carrier, and there were times it looked like multiple defending forwards were heading toward the puck carrier, which was a bit more group aggression than we sometimes saw last year.

But I’m going to hold off on trying any deep systemic breakdown just yet, as Gulutzan himself said there were still things he wanted to have the team changing a bit in their own zone. It is fair to call the preseason a work in progress, three days after camp starts.

St. Louis didn’t bring too many NHLers outside of Binnington, though eight is the veteran minimum, and they certainly hit that mark. I thought Alexey Toropchenko (who, with Walker, played on a line with Faksa for large stretches last year) was very good in this game, but the Blues’ shots were severely limited as the game went on.

That also makes it a little unfair to try to evaluate the goaltending, but it’s fair to say that both Poirier and Bibeau did what they needed to do, with Poirier handling a dangerous chance or two all by himself, and with Bibeau going 3-for-3 in the shootout, too. It was a positive game for both goaltenders, I would say, given the limited workload.

The one goal the Blues did create came on the power play, when Justin Carbonneau (no relation) redeemed himself from an earlier hiccup seconds before and fired a low shot from the faceoff dot along the ice that just did slip through Poirier to put St. Louis ahead.

Carbonneau had been looking pass before the quick shot, and that combined with the screen in front to beat Poirier as the puck slid in for a goal he probably didn’t entirely love.

But the Stars did get the kill they needed later on, and I suppose that’s what matters. If anything in sports matters, that is. (Which it does.)

Assorted Moments that Were Interesting

Antonio Stranges sliced across the slot with his trademark skating and fired a puck on net early in this one, forcing a save out of Binnington. It was entertaining and a little beautiful. I am told this is a results-based business, though, not an aesthetic one. Did anyone else think of Tom Wandell, in both a positive and a broader sense?
Binnington’s made a couple of outstanding saves in this one. Genuinely, I continue to be amazed at his career. I suppose playing for Team Canada means you are doing quite a lot of things right.
Radek Faksa got into his first scuffle of the season about 13 minutes into the first, coming out of a pile with a bit of a scratch on his face. He said after the game he doesn’t know exactly how it happened, but battle scars are always nice, when they don’t affect your play.
Trey Taylor took the game’s first penalty with less than a minute to go when his stick got caught under the arm of Alexey Toropchenko. Then without a stick, Taylor proceeded to block two shots before the Stars got possession. A consolation prize, at least.
Emil Hemming made a nice play to turn over a puck deep in the Blues’ zone, but his effort to poke the loose puck to Hyry on the doorstep just didn’t quite make it there. There’s a good player there, I continue to believe, but a young one.
After Colin Blackwell drew a holding call on Antoine Dorion in transition, the Stars went to work on an extended 6-on-5 sequence. But despite a shot or two and a couple of efforts into the crease from below the goal line, Binnington never really had to do anything special, and the Stars eventually settled for the power play after well over a minute on the delayed call.
Binnington did made a good save on the power play, after a Hryckowian saucer pass bounced off Hyry and nearly over the line, only for Binnington’s pad to stop it, after which his glove would beat Hyry to the loose puck. Hyry could be an even more pivotal player for Texas this year than last, I think.
Poirier got called upon to stop a shooter in alone after Dorion was sent in off the right wing all alone after beating Taylor wide in transition, but the Stars goaltender stood strong and made the stop.
Steel got a 2-on-1 with Capobianco, but the pass bounced over the defender’s stick. Steel had a very solid game, and his shootout goal was a nice cap on things. Still, you’d have liked to see him show just a tiny bit more evidence that he could be a viable top-six forward on a scoring line in the regular season. But it is still early, and perhaps he will do just that.
Taylor put an effort on Binnington after some nice skating to carry the puck below the net and up around the other side, but he didn’t get all of it, and the save was fairly pedestrian. Erne had a similar circuitous effort, which was good to see.
The Blues got more Grade A chances than Dallas, I’d guess, but the Stars had the puck a fair bit more—especially as the game wore on. So on the whole, a shootout was probably a fair result from this one.
Kolyachonok put a puck on net after another good bit of puck possession from the Bourque/Steel/Blackwell line, but Ellis again squeezed the life out of it. I thought he showed some promise in this game, actually, while Lundkvist looked a little bit similar to Bourque, with some overtry early on. Good debut for Kolyachonok, overall.
Bibeau had to hold the near post after Lundkvist shut down the pass on a 2-on-1, and Toropchenko (who was one of the Blues’ best players tonight) tried to tuck it behind Bibeau’s pad. But the veteran managed to keep things sealed adequately enough for Hyry to come in with a stick and ensure no leakage, and after a brief review, the puck was confirmed not to have crossed the line. Also, it’s the preseason, so come on folks, let’s move it along.
The Stars got one more golden chance in the final second of regulation, after an offensive zone draw with four seconds remaining led to a beautiful rebound for Capobianco, who had been positioned on the far side of the draw for just such a purpose. But alas, the puck didn’t fall cleanly for him, and the chance evaporated. Capobianco could easily have gotten two goals in this game.

Capobianco would make another smart offensive zone play a minute into overtime, when the defenseman made a smart step up on a loose puck that more or less forced Carbonneau to take a tripping penalty, putting Dallas on the 4-on-3 power play. He and Petrovic both looked like fairly seasoned NHLers on the back end for much of this game. You can just tell with that sort of thing, you know?