Dallas Stars Fight Hard, but Lose to Ducks 3-1

The Dallas Stars put up a good effort, but fell to the Anaheim Ducks, 3-1. Dallas has been winless in their last six games including tonight and look to be falling further out of playoff contention. The team will look to break their losing streak when they take on the New York Islanders Tuesday night.

Recap

The first period was a relatively even match between the two teams with chances at both ends and solid saves from Dallas’ Jhonas Enroth and Anaheim’s John Gibson. The Stars got the only powerplay of the period at 15:33 when Jiri Sekac went off for hooking, but Dallas only registered one shot in their attempt. Shortly after the penalty expired Sekac joined Ducks forward Corey Perry in a 2-on-1 against Enroth and despite Dallas’ best effort Perry scored top shelf. Anaheim took their 1-0 lead and 13-10 shots advantage into the first intermission.

The second period was all Dallas to say the least. At the 2:33 mark Curtis McKenzie and Clayton Stoner dropped the gloves in a short fight that really increased the tempo of the game. From there the Stars dominated in zone time and shots, but they failed to score until Patrick Eaves netted his seventh goal of the season on the man advantage with a little more than three minutes remaining in the period. The teams went into the second intermission tied at 1, with Dallas having a 27-13 advantage in shots after accumulating 17 in the second frame alone.

The third period was noticeably calmer than the second and saw more equal zonetime. After entering the Stars’ zone Stoner used a Dallas defenseman as a screen and whipped a slap shot past Enroth to restore the one-goal lead for the Ducks. From there Dallas became increasingly risky while they tried to tie it up; however, when both defensemen pinched on a play in the offensive zone Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf beat Enroth on a breakaway shot to seal the fate of the Stars. Anaheim won the game by a score of 3-1 despite being out shot 40-22.

Thoughts and Observations

Season Recap

Tonight’s game epitomized the Dallas Stars season this year. They outshot and widely outplayed their opponent, but failed to gain any points or any ground in the Western Conference standings. There’s not much to say other than that Dallas needs to work on their accuracy when shooting because a lot of shots don’t end up hitting the net. Other than that it’s hard to criticize a team that gets forty shots in a losing effort.

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Editor In Leaf

Youth

Dallas’ young players looked spectacular tonight despite the loss. Brett Ritchie was strong in his play along the boards in the offensive zone, Curtis McKenzie stepped up and fought to get the team going, and John Klingberg made some excellent decisions in the defensive zone. Those are only three of the young players at Dallas’ disposal and their talent, work ethic, and ability to compete in the NHL are promising factors that will hopefully contribute to the Stars’ success down the line.

Effort

Although the NHL is a results based league effort doesn’t go unnoticed. After the immense amount of disappointment head coach Lindy Ruff showed in the post-game press conference following Friday’s 5-4 shootout loss to the Colorado Avalanche tonight’s game was a step in the right direction. Despite giving up three goals Enroth proved to hold his own being that two of them were on odd man rushes and the other he was screened on. The domination by the Stars in the second period alone proves promising; however, promise and effort alone won’t amount to a Stanley Cup Championship.

Thanks for reading! Be sure to check back for the preview and post game analysis on Tuesday as the Stars take on the New York Islanders.

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