Dallas Stars Blow Early 2-0 Lead, Lose 4-3 To Avalanche
By Josh Clark
Final. 3. 119. 4. 103
The Dallas Stars started off strong on a Saturday matinee game against the Colorado Avalanche, but once again found a way to shoot themselves in the foot, and could not pull out a win, as the Avalanche beat them 4-3 at the Pepsi Center. Not much more you can say, but the wrap up is below.
Game recap
The first period started out extremely well for the Dallas Stars. After forcing the puck into the zone early, Jamie Benn sent Tyler Seguin a pass in front of the net. As Seguin pulled the trigger, rookie forward Brett Ritchie stepped in and found a deflection that put the Stars up 1-0 just 27 seconds into the game. Moments later, Antoine Roussel was called for slashing at 50 seconds, which ended in a bit of a scuffle, but no punches were thrown. The Stars killed the penalty but went right back on the job at 3:29 when Jason Demers was called for a very questionable holding minor, but the Stars killed that one off as well. The penalty kill looked brilliant, only allowing one shot through four minutes in the first. With 10:36 remaining, Vernon Fiddler left a puck in front of the crease for Colton Sceviour, who sent a wicked backhander past Semyon Varlamov to put the Stars up 2-0. The period ended quietly from there. The Stars led the Avalanche in shots 8-7 after the first, but controlled the puck in the attacking zone for the majority of the period.
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App Trigger
The second period began in complete harmony, but ended in utter disaster. It started with a penalty to Borna Rendulic just four seconds in, sending the Dallas Stars to their first power play of the game. The Stars were unsuccessful on the power play attempt, but remained determined in the game. With 12:42 remaining in the second, Erik Johnson sent a shot from the blue line that found its way past Lehtonen to make it a 2-1 game. There looked to be goaltender interference on the Avalanche, but nothing was called and the goal stood. Just 1:25 later, Maxime Talbot scored off of a deflection after John Mitchell’s shot, deadlocking the score at two with plenty of hockey left to be played. At 6:48, Erik Johnson sent a puck over the glass, taking a delay of game penalty and sending the Stars to their second chance on the PP. During the power play, Cody McLeod was sent to the box for smothering the puck after Antoine Roussel reefed him near the benches. The Stars had a 5-on-3 chance, as well as two 5-on-4’s, but once again could not find a power play goal. With 3:02 left, Nathan MacKinnon found a breakaway that Alex Goligoski broke up, but it came with a cost. Goligoski went to the box for hooking, but the Stars killed off a third chance for the Avalanche. With 8.4 seconds remaining, John Klingberg turned a puck over to MacKinnon at the line, who took it up the lane unmolested by a single Stars defenseman and scored, chopping the Stars lead to nothing and putting them in a one goal hole. Lehtonen tried his best to stop it, but the puck narrowly crept past the goal line by a mere inch and was ruled a good goal. The second came to an end, with the Avalanche holding all of the momentum and the 3-2 lead. Stars led the shot total, 24-22.
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Mile High Sticking
The third period, just as depressing as the second. After a mere 12 seconds had diminished from the clock, Matt Duchene found a beautiful chance given by the Dallas Stars blue line and cashed in to make it a 4-2 lead early in the third. At 17:22, Jason Spezza partially helped to stop the bleeding after leaving a juicy puck for Ales Hemsky who sniped it home for his sixth of the season. With that it was 4-3, and the Stars found another power play attempt after Gabriel Landeskog sent a high stick under Hemsky’s visor. The Stars were unsuccessful on the try, and even strength was reinstated. The Stars had some great chances, with most of them coming down to Tyler Seguin or Jamie Benn, but no one could find the equalizer. With 6:49, Erik Johnson whacked a puck out of play, sending the Stars to their fifth chance on the man advantage of the afternoon. Nothing came from that chance either. With 1:15 the Stars pulled Lehtonen and gained the extra attacker. Jason Spezza found the puck on his stick and Varlamov sprawled with time dwindling down, but ringed one off the post and incomplete. Alex Tanguay went to the box with :18 seconds left, but the Stars could not find a goal on their sixth power play chance, and lost the game 4-3. The Stars outshot the Avalanche 40-30.
Thoughts and Observations
The power play. Plain and simple. The Dallas Stars have been atrocious on the power play, and have not scored a goal in their last 18 attempts. The Stars spent the majority of Friday’s practice working on fixing it, but apparently it was of little help to their cause. They need to figure it out soon, or it will become the sole reason of their losses. They could have beaten Columbus, Nashville, and Colorado if they could have capitalized on the majority of the PP chances. Oh well.
The goaltending and defense has to be better, including lousy turnovers and positioning when shots come in. It’s kind of sad when every game the Stars lose, they outshoot their opponent.
This was the Stars 41st game of the season, meaning that their regular season is officially halfway over.
The Stars are winless in their last four, going 0-2-2 during the span.
The Stars fall below the Avalanche in the standings, now sitting in sixth place in the Central Division. They still rest four points out of a wild card spot held by the Los Angeles Kings and Winnipeg Jets. These two teams play each other tonight, so by the end of the night the Stars will officially be four or five points behind the last wild card spot and six points behind the first wild card spot, with a game in hand on both.
When will this agony end? We’ll see if the boys can figure it out Tuesday night when former Dallas Star Alex Chiasson comes to the American Airlines Center with the Ottawa Senators, and Jason Spezza reunites with his former team. The Stars have a lot of work to do and a little amount of time to get it done. Will they be able to salvage their season? Not so sure anymore. Anyway, Go Stars.