Broken, Beaten, and Scarred

I put off writing about last night’s loss hoping one of my fellow writers here at BlackoutDallas would have some input or a post. But I will step up and go over it. Last night was horrible. If you watched the game, did some reading about it, or even listened to a radio show today, then you already know it was a disaster. The bruised up and in need of a bounce back game after looking weak before the break and in their first game back against Vancouver, the Dallas Stars ventured into Boston and were manhandled by the Boston Bruins. Literally and on the scoreboard. Now the Stars have even more injured bodies and they have to be a team with some questions starting to pop up.

The puck dropped in Beantown and then so did the gloves. The game had three fights in the first four seconds of the game, and it spiraled out of control quickly. The Bruins used the energy in the crowd and then jumped out to a 2-0 lead before the Stars had a chance to even figure out what was going on. The Bruins got the crowd wholeheartedly into the game and then the rest of the first was a snowball rolling downhill. The Stars ended up pulling goalie Andrew Raycroft less then two minutes into the game but it did not get better from there. Kari Lehtonen came in but the Stars defense did not wake up and at the end of the first period the Bruins were up 7-1. Sounds wrong but it was 4-0 in the goals column, and they won 3 out of 4 fights.

I give the Stars a tiny bit of credit for fighting back in the game and making it 4-3 early in the 3rd period, but it still is not acceptable. They came out to a game and were not ready for it. The Bruins came out trying to make a statement and when the game headed that direction they jumped all over the Stars and took advantage of the Stars playing hockey like they just watched someone die. Not only did they take a beating in the fights, but Barch and team catalyst Adam Burish both got hurt in their fights and now will miss the game tomorrow. Both were taken to the hospital with facial injuries and Burish was added to to IR today. The team went on to play the rest of the game with limited forwards for most of it. Recent call up Ray Sawada was the victim of a dirty headshot from the Bruins Daniel Paille and did not return to the game after the hit in the 2nd.

So down to just 9 forwards the Stars fought back, but after a start to the game like that, they had no business winning the game. And as soon as they made it 4-3 on a Richards goal, they gave one right back and from there it was over. They took a 6-3 defeat and got what they probably should have received. They were horrible on their powerplay and did nothing with a 5 minute chance from the hit on Sawada. They killed all the Bruins chances, but when you give up that many goals you have to kill calls against just to save face.

Now the Stars need to dig deep. They are now without Benn, Wandell, Peterson, Burish is on the IR, while Barch and Sawada are back in Dallas being re-evaluated. Now the team is in Philly getting ready for a game against another top team in the Philadelphia Flyers, and the team is going to be skating with a lot of scrubs and minor league skaters at least for one night, if not longer. This is gut check time. Not time to go out there and prove you are tough. Not time to go out and try anything fancy. Now is the time to get your arse on ice and win a dang game. Time for the team, which has lost 4 out of 5 and is starting to show cracks, to get on the ice and as a team find a way to win a game against a top tier opponent on the road. They do not need to forget about last night, they need to use it. Figure out what they have been doing wrong and find a way to get back to every night playing for each other and playing in whatever way is required by every player to get back to earning points. The team is broken, beaten, and scarred right now. But they are not dead, and are far from it as they still are first in their division. But this is not the way to start the hardest part of the season if they want to stay at the top and continue to be the surprise team this season. Now they need to pick themselves back up.