Dallas Stars Shouldn’t Get Too Cocky Too Soon

The Dallas Stars’ loss to the Blue Jackets last night revealed some weaknesses we’d hoped the Stars had done away with. Dealt with right, the Stars can bounce back, but with a good dose of reality.

Bad passes, missed chances, turnovers, oh my. The Dallas Stars were all out of sorts last night against the Blue Jackets, a team that was not projected to pose that much of a threat. Instead, Columbus shut the Stars out and scored 3 goals of its own.

The cause, in my opinion? Well if you read the title, you probably already know what I think. The Stars shouldn’t allow early season successes to make them too confidence, cause them to slack off, or make them find the things they are doing right as more important than what they are doing wrong.

So far in the season, the Stars’ defense has been rather praiseworthy. However, from last night’s loss, it’s clear that the defense is not yet where it should be or where the Stars want it.

Communication is a big part of this. The defense does its best job when it move with the current of the game, interacting with the offense and contributing there as well. Clearly that didn’t happen as the Stars went scoreless last night. But dealing with communication issues is a given for this defense, filled with relatively new players who are still figuring out how to play together.

Offensively, the downfalls were close to the same: nothing clicked. And we all know, you can play well, but what does that even mean if nothing clicks? I feel as though we’ve seen this offensive issue already this season.

It’s been masked by the fact that the younger, depth players came out of the gate ready and rearing to go. But that sort of impassioned energy dies off if it has nothing to sustain it. The top forwards need to find their groove again so the production isn’t lopsided, or worse, nonexistent.

If the Stars want to be cocky about something,, the only Star who has that right so far is Kari Lehtonen. Although many times we attribute goals against to a netminding error, Lehtonen did well and suffered no major breakdowns, but was also not helped much by the defense.

So the Stars need to simply understand that they need a better perspective of their game. They can’t be too hard on themselves; that type of negative mindset will put them on the same downward spiral they suffered at the end of the 14-15 season.  But an inflated view of their abilities will also have them falling on their faces very quickly.

The Stars need to look at the tapes objectively and acknowledge the things they have done right previously in the season: two-way defense, integrative offense, and solid goalkeeping- and then spend time on making them consistent instead of basking in the glow of succeeding.

Maybe it will take the Stars a few more unexpected losses to own up to their flaws and fix them. If that’s the case, then I for one would much rather that happen early in the season so the Stars can bounce back.

Next: Dallas Stars Shut Out By Columbus Blue Jackets In Frustrating Loss

Since there is still a whole unwritten season ahead, it’s a good thing that the Dallas Stars are having these identity questions now. With so many new players on the roster, it was inevitable that the Stars would suffer some growing pains. Now they just have to play through that pain and come out stronger on the other side.