Playoff Hopes Diminish as Dallas Stars Fall to Tampa Bay Lightning, 5-3

The Dallas Stars lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight by a score of 5-3. The Stars fell to (23-20-8) on the season and 0-1-1 on their two-game home stand. They’ll look to improve their playoff chances and get back on track versus the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday.

Recap

The first period started with offense as Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos scored his 28th goal of the season on a tip that trickled through Kari Lehtonen’s five hole at 3:11. Then after the Stars failed to convert on their first man advantage of the game, the Lightning increased their lead to two with a shot from the blue line at 6:42 of the period. The second goal against was also Tampa Bay’s second shot of the game. The Stars had a number of opportunities, but either Andrei Vasilevskiy had the answer, or they missed the net. Tampa Bay took their 2-0 lead into the first intermission despite Dallas having both the advantage in shots 11-7 and two power play opportunities.

To start the second period Dallas played significantly better than the first as they got a number of quality chances, but still failed to convert. During offsetting delay of game calls to Dallas’ Antoine Roussel and Tampa’s Luke Witkowski the Lightning got a breakaway, but Lehtonen made a key save to keep them from increasing their lead to three. The Stars had their third power play opportunity of the night about halfway through the period, but they didn’t have much quality zone time and consequently didn’t score. Then in a span of fifteen seconds the game changed entirely. At 15:21 John Klingberg netted his tenth goal of the season to cut the lead in half and at 15:36 Alex Goligoski scored to tie it 2-2. Dallas’ Erik Cole was then called for tripping in the last-minute of play to put the Lightning on their first power play of the night with fifty seconds remaining in the period. The teams went into second intermission tied 2-2 with Dallas leading in shots 28-13.

Tampa Bay began the third period with 1:10 of power play time, but they didn’t score. Then just after Cole’s penalty expired Jason Demers was wrongfully accused of elbowing to put the Lightning on their second man advantage of the night. Dallas was successful once again and went 2-for-2 on the penalty kill. Goligoski was called for tripping to give Tampa their third power play of the game and they scored to make it 3-2 at 12:27. That lead, however, was short-lived as Trevor Daley’s shot found the back of the net with 13:41 remaining in regulation. Tampa Bay then reestablished their one-goal lead when Ondrej Palat deflected a shot past Lehtonen at the 16:23 mark of the third period. When Lehtonen was on the bench in favor of the extra attacker Tampa Bay scored into the empty net to make it 5-3.

Thoughts and Observations

Better Late than Never?

The Dallas Stars are a young group and they should be able to start games with speed and energy, but that hasn’t been the case. Once again the Stars found themselves down by a pair less than halfway through the opening period and Lehtonen didn’t even make his first save of the night until more than eleven minutes in. Although they were able to come back from being down 2-0 and then 3-2 they make it immensely more difficult on themselves when they don’t start seriously playing until they’re behind. Poor starts are not going to win you games in this league, especially when it’s this late in the season and every team is fighting for points. Whether it’s a mental crutch or a physical issue the Stars should have resolved it months ago and they have no option other than to fix it immediately if they want to even fathom playing for the Stanley Cup.

Missing the Target

For as many elite forwards as the Stars have it is difficult to swallow the fact that they hit the net almost as frequently as they miss it. When nearly half of your shots are missing the twenty-four feet of space behind the crease it is significantly more challenging to score. Tonight’s game was no different as Tyler Seguin, for instance, had over thirteen shot attempts, but only four of them actually made their way to the goal. Collectively Dallas put 36 pucks on net, but only managed to get three past Tampa’s Vasilevsky. The Stars are, for whatever reason, a team that gets better results when they take fewer shots and they’ll need to return to that style of play to get back in the win column.

Comeback Kids

This Stars team has a knack for coming back after being down by a couple of goals; in fact it almost rejuvenates the club. After giving up two goals on the first two shots of the game Lehtonen made some excellent saves on odd man rushes and breakaways to keep Dallas in it. His improved play coupled with the offensive outburst in the last few minutes of the second period allowed the Stars to compete for points instead of just giving up. They went into the final twenty minutes tied and then gave up a power play goal only to tie it once again. Although they didn’t complete the comeback and end up earning a point or two the Stars are not a team that throws in the towel when times are tough and that is something everyone can admire.

Thanks for reading. Be sure to check back for the preview and post game analysis on Saturday as the Stars head to Buffalo to take on the Sabres.