Dallas Stars Cannot Hold Onto Lead, Fall To Blackhawks

It’s a painful way to close out what was shaping up to be a decent homestand as the Dallas Stars fell 5-3 to the Chicago Blackhawks tonight.

For a little bit there, it looked as though the Dallas Stars were finally going to prove their worth, best the Blackhawks, and jump back into the thick of playoff contention.

Instead, they floundered in the final few minutes and came up on the short end of the stick to finish a very important homestand on a very average note.

Game recap

The first period did not contain much action. Besides a couple of good looks for both sides, the only interesting part of the first was when the Stars fans and Hawks fans would get into a cheering war.

The second period was where both teams broke out in the goal column. Radek Faksa scored eight seconds in to give the Stars an early 1-0 lead. But Ryan Hartman and Gustav Forsling were quick to counter and give Chicago the 2-1 lead heading into the second intermission.

The Dallas Stars opened up the third with another quick goal as Jamie Benn scored just 40 seconds in to tie the game up. Not long after that, Tyler Seguin scored on a wraparound to take the 3-2 lead. Patrick Kane was quick to bring the game back to even with a goal of his own. Then Trevor van Riemsdyk scored to take the lead for Chicago, and it would stay that way. Jonathan Toews scored an empty net goal to put the last bit of salt in the wound.

Dallas Stars /

Dallas Stars

Thoughts and Observations

Scoring and falling asleep

The Dallas Stars took two different leads tonight but lost both of them almost immediately after gaining them. Faksa took the 1-0 lead for Dallas, but it disappeared just 6:02 later. Then, the Stars clawed their way back into the game early in the third when Benn and Seguin scored to take the 3-2 lead. But the Stars gave the lead up 25 seconds later, and it was all downhill from there.

“We’ve got to find a way to lock it down,” said Jamie Benn following the game.

The Stars’ inability to hold onto leads and build upon them is hurting their playoff hopes dearly. They continue to fall into this trance of scoring and then sitting back. You cannot do that against most teams, especially Chicago, and expect to win.

0-18-2

On the flip side of that, the Dallas Stars also need to learn how to claw their way back into games more effectively.

With the loss to the Hawks, the Stars are now 0-18-2 when trailing after two periods this season. While they did find a way to hop back into the driver seat with an early surge in the third period, they once again failed to close it out. That’s 20 games lost because of a lack of comeback skills. That hurts.

More from Blackout Dallas

Slipping into obscurity

The Stars closed out their six-game homestand tonight with a painfully average record of 2-2-2. This homestand was supposed to help determine where the Stars might be heading as the rest of the season rolls on. If that is the case, then an early offseason is definitely in the cards.

While the Stars played some quality hockey in every game throughout the stand, the little mistakes crushed them when it counted.

“Every game we lost points in, we had a big part in letting them slip away,” head coach Lindy Ruff said following the game tonight.

If you can take even a little sliver of hope out of tonight’s game, it would be that the Predators, Blues, and Jets all lost today. Not to mention that the Canucks are currently losing to the Wild. It’s great that most of the teams in front of Dallas fell also, but it still doesn’t get the Stars anywhere.

With only 29 games remaining, the Stars are in serious need of a massive win streak. Without it, their playoff hopes are all but buried at this point.

Effort needs to be three-sided

The Stars offense has really found its stride over the past few games, so that’s kind of a positive. Over the course of the homestand, Dallas averaged 3.5 goals per game. So how on earth did they come out with a 2-2-2 record?

Probably because their goals against average was right up there as well. The Stars posted a 3.66 goals against average over this most recent six-game span. And a lot of it was due to little mistakes that the opponents found a way to cash in on. Most of the time it would be solid defensive play for 45 minutes, but a few missed assignments would end up doing them in. These mistakes are primarily coming on defense.

“You can’t point at the goaltending when we did what we did,” Ruff said.

If the Dallas Stars have any hope of turning a corner, they will need more consistent play on all three sides of the puck. Without a three-sided effort, there can never be true harmony.

Next: February Will Decide Where The Stars Are Ultimately Headed

Hitting the road

The Stars will now head north to Canada for a two-game road trip, which will hopefully help prepare them for the lengthy travels that they will face. Of the Stars’ 29 games remaining this year, 17 of them will be away from the AAC. That’s not the most encouraging statistic considering that Dallas is 7-13-4 when away from home.

This coming week, they will face off with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators. It is imperative that they come away with four points if they want to keep themselves in postseason talk. We’ll have to wait and see what they’re made of.

Quotable

“It’s a terrible loss,” Ruff said in the post game press conference. “That’s not good hockey. That’s stupid hockey.”

Looking ahead

The Stars will be back in action on Tuesday night when they visit the Air Canada Centre to take on the Toronto Maple Leafs.

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