Five blocked shots will not appear on the scoreboard, but Tyler Myers supplied five reasons Casey DeSmith could keep working from a 1-1 game into overtime. Myers played 19:50 for Dallas on Thursday night, with Miro Heiskanen absent because of an upper-body injury, and handled the plain, necessary part of hockey: preventing pucks from reaching the net.
The Stars lost 2-1 to Columbus in a shootout at Nationwide Arena, earning one standings point after the teams traded regulation goals and failed to score during the five-minute overtime. Myers finished with one shot, three hits, no giveaways and no points. His line was quiet in the best possible sense.
Five blocks and nearly 20 minutes gave Dallas defensive work it needed, even if none of it could solve the other end of the rink.
That workload fit a larger adjustment on the blue line. Esa Lindell played 26:05 and blocked three shots. Thomas Harley led Dallas defensemen with 28:31, added three blocks and recorded two overtime shots.
Nils Lundkvist logged a season-high 21:06, while Trey Taylor played 9:59 in his second NHL appearance. Those figures do not recreate Heiskanen’s presence, and they do not explain every shift. They do show Dallas finding enough resistance to keep Columbus from breaking through repeatedly.
DeSmith supplied the last barrier. He stopped 29 of 30 shots over 65:00, with one goal against over regulation and overtime. Columbus finished with 30 shots, so this was not a night in which the Stars removed all danger from in front of their net.
It was a night in which Myers and the rest of the defense helped DeSmith turn that danger into a game Dallas could still win late.
The limit of that work appeared in the second period. At 9:16, Cam Talbot denied Esa Lindell with a scrambling glove stop near the right post. At 16:45, he used his left pad to stop Jason Robertson on a breakaway.
Dallas was getting chances, and the opponent’s goaltender was answering them. Myers could keep a shot from reaching DeSmith; he could not make Talbot surrender one.
Dallas finally moved ahead 6:27 into the third. Wyatt Johnston created the initial opportunity after taking advantage of an Ivan Provorov turnover, but Talbot stopped Johnston’s attempt. Mikko Rantanen then gathered the rebound beside the cage and found room near the post for his ninth goal. Johnston received the assist.
That finish also supplied a useful contrast with Myers’ night. Rantanen’s goal required the play to continue after the first save and then demanded an actual conversion. Myers prevented shot attempts from reaching the net; Rantanen converted an opportunity at the other end.
They are both important jobs, but they are not interchangeable. A defenseman can help preserve a tie without producing the goal that turns a narrow advantage into breathing room.
Columbus answered with 3:14 left in regulation. Zach Werenski entered from the left circle and sent a backhand over DeSmith’s left pad at 16:46 of the period. The Blue Jackets had 10 third-period shots to Dallas’ six, while DeSmith kept the game level everywhere else.
