The Dallas Stars (4-3-4) lost to the Minnesota Wild (7-3-0) tonight and are now fourth in the highly competitive Central Division. Their lackluster performance from last night was seemingly gone at the start of the game, however, special team struggles ultimately led to their demise.
Recap
Dallas came out with a lot of energy and hardly resembled the team that played the Anaheim Ducks last night, while Kari Lehtonen made a couple of key saves to keep the game scoreless and looked ready to play.
The Stars had a lengthy 5-on-3 power play, but was unable to convert as Nino Niederreiter and Nate Prosser were in the box for hooking and elbowing respectively. Brenden Dillon was then called for tripping late in the period and the power play carried over into the second.
The Stars successfully killed the remaining 37 seconds of the penalty; however, Minnesota’s Mikael Granlund scored his first of the season at 4:21 of the second period off of a bad turnover by Jordie Benn in the middle of the ice. The Wild then made it 2-0 with Matt Dumba’s slap shot, but the two goal lead was short lived as Vernon Fiddler scored seven seconds later to cut the lead to one once again. With less than five minutes remaining the Wild scored their first power play goal of the season to give them a 3-1 lead that they would take to the second intermission.
Dallas had a great opportunity to cut the lead to one, but was unable to score on their power play to start the period. Jamie Benn then took his second penalty of the night to put Dallas on the penalty kill and Niederreiter scored at 5:03 of the third period while on that power play to give the Wild a 4-1 lead.
Jamie Benn found himself at fault for a third time about eight minutes into the period, but the Stars were able to kill the penalty and keep the lead at 3. The Wild won 4-1 in regulation and the Stars only managed 20 shots on goal throughout the game.
Thoughts and Observations
Not So Special Teams
This game was won and lost on special teams. Dallas gave up two power play goals to a Minnesota Wild team that had been 0 for 27 with the man advantage going into the game. They also failed to score on 4 power play opportunities of their own, including a lengthy 5-on-3 advantage. As in most road games, special teams are a large determining factor and the Stars just couldn’t overcome the penalty killing of the Wild.
Captain Frustration
Jamie Benn found himself in the penalty box three times throughout the duration of the game, due mainly to frustration. It’s never a good sign when the captain is acting impulsively and making decisions that are detrimental to the team’s success, and it’s an even worse sign when the opposition scores two goals while the captain is sitting for those infractions. As much of a Jamie Benn fan as I am, taking unnecessary offensive and neutral zone penalties is no way to lead and need not continue.
Back-to-Back Games
For whatever reason the Dallas Stars cannot win the second game of a back-to-back. Whether it’s physical fatigue or mental frustration they just can’t get the win and it’s a trend that desperately needs to end. Lehtonen can’t continue to take the amount of starts he’s had of late and back-up Anders Lindback needs to see some playing time in the near future, which may be the answer to this dilemma.
Injury Report
It is important to note that Ales Hemsky left the bench during the second and did not return to the ice with a reported upper body injury, the severity of his injury is unknown at this time.
The Stars will look to bounce back as they take on the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday at the American Airlines Center. Be sure to check back for a preview of the match-up!