Dallas Stars Rally In Third, Nosedive Against Devils

A heroic third period push from the Dallas Stars was not enough to undo the damage of the first two periods and prevent the Devils from notching a 3-2 win.

Despite coming off an epic victory against the Predators, the Dallas Stars fell to their old habits of playing on a lesser team’s level. Both teams’ goalies shined, but in the end it was the Stars’ sloppy neutral zone play and excess of turnovers that really did them in. Though they made us all proud in the third and pushed the game into overtime, it wasn’t enough to net the full two points.

Game Recap

First Period

A slew of penalties got this period rolling, the first of which was at the hands of Antoine Roussel. That penalty was killed and immediately after, the Dallas Stars went on the power play thanks to a cross-checking call on Tyler Kennedy. With both penalties killed within the first five minutes of the period, the Stars and Devils were set to get down to business.

The Devils brought good defensive effort, but Jamie Benn still wound his way around four New Jersey players to get a promising shot on goal, and Tyler Seguin had a similar break which was also unfruitful.

With ten minutes down, the Stars lead in shots 6-1 and seemed to be dancing around the Devils. The Devils picked up some heat, though, to muster a few more shots on goal. But Niemi came up big in back with several pad saves at crucial moments for the Stars.

Five minutes later, the Devils had taken over shots on goal 8-6, and the Stars seemed to be developing a little apathy on their offense. The period came to a close after another Dallas power play that just failed to click.

Second Period

The Devils began the period having come from behind, leading in shots on goal 9-8. With their play disintegrating even further, the Dallas Stars committed several turnovers which Palmieri took advantage of 1:02 into the second, beating Demers to score on the wraparound and put New Jersey on the scoreboard first.

After another scoreless power play, the Stars were having clear difficulties in generating any kind of opportunities in the Devils’ zone. After another fatefully unfortunate turnover and a lack of good positional pressure, the Stars conceded another goal to Bobby Farnharm, putting the Devils up 2-0.

After that wake up call, the Stars seemed to get a little hungrier, but they’d already allowed the Devils’ defense confidence as a result of their clunky and disjointed neutral ice play.

After Spezza went off for tripping, the Stars were able to cap the Devils’ momentum and kill the penalty. But despite leading in shots 19-18, they had failed to solve any issues when the buzzer sounded to close out the second.

Third Period

The Stars wasted no time coming in hot in the third, right away making up for lost time with several great attempt on goal within the first minute thanks to some line mixing by Lindy Ruff. This and that familiar third-period moxy brought on some greater aggression and offensive movement.

After a Stars penalty kill and a great save by Niemi on a Devils’ breakaway, Klingberg spun on a takeaway and fed Sharp, who put the Stars on the board at 10:54 with a snapshot to cut the Devils’ lead in half and up his point streak to eight games.

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The Stars picked up energy from here, and about four minutes later, Colton Sceviour took advantage of heavy screening in front of the net and equalized with a long range wrist shot, with helpers going to Spezza and Oduya.

The Stars couldn’t find enough time in regulation to fully stage their comeback, so to the three-on-three they went.

Overtime

One minute and change into the three-on-three with Benn, Seguin, and Klingberg, Benn took a high sticking call and sent the Devils to a four on three power play. Only forty seconds later, John Moore capitalized on the opportunity with a slapshot to put the Devils up by one and seal the deal.

Thoughts and Observations

If the Dallas Stars had begun the game in the same way they ended it, the scoreboard would have been telling a different story for sure. However, the Stars suffer from the same problem of digging holes in the first two periods that are just slightly too deep to completely climb out of in the third.

Despite the loss, the Stars did fight tooth and nail to come back in the third and deserved the point they took away from tonight’s matchup.

Colton Sceviour was also a silver lining of this game. After his goal that tied the game, he would have also netted the game winner had it not been for Schneider’s quick glove. Sceviour’s goal tonight was the fourth in his last six games, perhaps signaling the start of a Stars comeback on an individual scale as well.

Next: Dallas Stars Aim To Continue Success Against New York Area

Hopefully, the Stars will have settled into their road schedule when they take on the Islanders tomorrow at 5, still looking for their first win of 2016.