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Dallas Stars Faltering In Preseason Could Be Sign For Worry

By Josh Clark |

The NHL preseason is in full swing as multiple teams kicked off their mini-seasons over this past week. The Dallas Stars were one of these teams, and are ultimately unsuccessful so far.

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They will play their third game of the season Saturday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning. This will also be their first home game, and they could use a win for multiple reasons.

So far, the Stars are 0-2 in preseason play with losses to the Florida Panthers and St. Louis Blues. In these two games, the Stars have been outscored 9-2. They have also been outshot 65-46.

In the first game of the preseason against the Panthers, the Stars slowly fell into an 0-3 hole. They would find a way to get two goals back in the third period compliments of Tyler Seguin and Jason Demers, but could not find a third and lost a tight one, 3-2.

The Dallas Stars went through a massive rebuild over the offseason, strengthening and ultimately rounding out their starting lineup. Adding Patrick Sharp to the offense, Johnny Oduya to the defense, and Antti Niemi in the crease was supposed to bring veteran and winning experience to an otherwise young Stars lineup.

So, what gives? Why would the Stars lose to the Panthers with this updated and overall lethal lineup?

The reason most Stars fans did not read into this game was simply because of the contrasting game rosters. Dallas started only four NHL-regular forwards, three NHL-regular defensemen, and no NHL-regular goalies. The Panthers, on the other hand, started four NHL-regular forwards, four NHL-regular defensemen, and their usual starting goaltender Roberto Luongo.

No worries then. The Stars simply lost because they didn’t have their regular roster playing.

Thursday rolled around and the Dallas Stars took off to St. Louis to play their division rival. Some exciting news was made public Thursday morning as head coach Lindy Ruff noted that veteran goaltender Kari Lehtonen would be playing the entire game against STL. With this being known, many Stars fans expected to see a more consistent game.

Instead, the Dallas Stars found a way to fall even further. The Stars were pushed to the limits of embarrassment against the Blues, falling 6-0.

So where are the excuses that make this okay? Of course you can dive into the numbers game and check which roster had more NHL experience flowing through it. But there are simply too many scenarios that overpower this idea.

So is there a reason to be worried about the Dallas Stars?

At first glance, there might be. The fact that Lehtonen, the starting goaltender, gave up six goals to an offensive group comprised of mainly AHL prospects is frightening. Also, four of the Stars six defenders last night were considered to be competing for the final two spots in the defensive lineup. But they were a good part of the reason the Stars dissipated.

The fact that a portion of the so-called offense was unable to score last night could be another warning flag.

While it is not positive why the Dallas Stars are starting out so slow, there is no reason to truly fret… at least yet. It is still the preseason, and while other teams are aggressively injecting more and more of their top-tier talent into their lineups, the Stars are taking baby steps towards the ultimate goal. These Stars are destined to be something special on paper, and they need to transition it this year.

In the end, there probably is not much to truly worry about. Both nights, the other team had a more experienced and overall better lineup than the Stars, which will obviously produce an imbalance. But there are still some things to note that need to be tightened up and figured out before October 8th.

The Stars do not want to fall behind in the early-goings of their season like the did last year. Success is key early, and it is the Stars main motive going into 2015-2016. It may be okay to settle and accept the 0-2 record, but it is clear that when the full lineup is put into motion, they should all be ready to create something special.

Next: Stars Had Defensive Showdown vs. St. Louis Last Night

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