The Dallas Stars continued their early season woes Thursday night after losing 3-2 to the Nashville Predators at the American Airlines Center. The Stars are now 0-4-2 in their last six, 4-5-4 on the year. The Predators improve to 8-3-2 and now leads the Central Division.
Game recap
The Dallas Stars started out the game tonight with a furious attack, something the fans had not seen since Saturday, October 25th against the New York Islanders, also known as the game that started this skid. After a few quick rushes to the net and some key stops for both teams, a silent first period ended with the Predators holding 11 shots and the Stars not far behind with 10. Both goalies had held their ground and the game remained at 0-0.
As the second period drew on, not much was going on until Ryan Garbutt went to the penalty box, putting the Predators on their second power play of the night. Craig Smith made the second PP count and scored just 4:10 into the second. Sergei Gonchar went into the penalty box later in the second, and Nashville capitalized once again. Filip Forsberg sent a high wrister past Kari Lehtonen’s blocker and made it 2-0 Predators with 6:03 left in the second. After the Stars had pushed and pushed, giving everything they had but letting up as time drew on, they found themselves down 2-0. This did not sit well with Trevor Daley, playing in his 701st career game, all with the Dallas Stars. Daley drug three Nashville defensemen on his way to the net and somehow pulled one past Pekka Rinne, who had been bidding on a beautiful shutout up to this point. Daley capitalized with 3:34 left in the second, and remained on the attack for the remainder of the period.
With everything but the lead on their side, the Dallas Stars entered the third period, hungering for a W. Ruff had shortened the bench, and Erik Cole, Valeri Nichushkin, and Ryan Garbutt all only saw one shift through the entire third period. All hope was restored to the American Airlines Center with 12:37 left in the third when Patrick Eaves knocked a rebound from off the boards over a scrambling Rinne. The Dallas Stars fell into “don’t lose” mode once again, as they always do, after this goal, and it came back to hurt them. With 6:13 remaining in the third, Matt Cullen snuck one in on the short side of Lehtonen, and that is how the score remained. The Stars pulled Lehtonen for the last two minutes of the game but were no match for the expert in the crease, Pekka Rinne.
Thoughts and Observations
The Dallas Stars went 0 for 1 on the power play against a Predators team that greatly struggles on the penalty kill. You know something is horribly wrong when this happens. Ruff has attempted to make multiple changes but none seem to be working. If he does not figure out a solution soon, the man advantage could prove to be a major downfall to the Stars team going forward.
One word: chances. The Dallas Stars were spoon-fed at least a dozen high-quality chances tonight, none of which turned out to work. The Stars constantly struggled with capitalizing, even Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin who had two magnificent chances each, neither of which cashed in. Those chances ended up costing the Stars the game.
The Stars still do not know how to play a 60 minute game. Contrary to their usual behavior where they perform for the first 30 minutes and then fall into the “don’t lose” state of mind, tonight they did not show up for the first 30 minutes, but appeared in the last 30 with a fierce attack. If the Stars can learn how to play for a full 60 minutes with passion and energy, maybe a win won’t be that difficult to come by anymore?
Ruff still has a lot of voids to fill. This game was definitely an improvement compared to prior lost games, but there are still things that must be fixed if a win is in the cards.
The Dallas Stars will have two days to regroup, before the San Jose Sharks come into town for the Stars third and final game of the three game homestand. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 PM CST. Will we get a win?
Keep an eye on Blackout Dallas for previews and post-game reports, along with news and insight regarding the matchup.
Comments and questions below, and as always, thanks for reading! Go Stars.