Dallas Stars Continue To Slump, Fall To Nashville

The Stars came out flying in the second half of a back-to-back, something that the Stars haven’t done often this year. A nice surprise was that of number 2 Kris Russell who was picked up yesterday at the deadline making his debut for the Dallas Star.

He was a question mark earlier in the day due to not having a work visa. Another surprise was in net, as Niemi started back to back games after a solid performance last night.

First Period:

Antoine Roussel was just havoc for the Predators in the first period. Right off the start Roussel was running around hitting anything that moved wearing yellow.

After what many would call a good start to the game the Stars gave up the first goal of the game after a break down in the defensive zone. The Stars lost a battle out front and Craig Smith was able to knock the puck into a wide open net.

Only ten seconds later, yes TEN the Stars were able to tie the game up off a gritty goal from none other then Antoine Roussel; Roussel won a foot race off the face-off for a loose puck and went spending into the zone and jammed the puck into the side of the net

Russell had a solid first period in a Stars uniform playing just over six minutes of ice time getting a few shots off and showing his new team what they should expect from him in the next coming months.

Every time it looked like the Predators were taking control over the game the Stars were able to weather the storm and found a way to take the puck back down the ice and regain control.

The Stars finished the period with 17 shots and only giving up 10. The Stars looked good in the first period they controlled most of the period, but weren’t able to head to the locker with the lead.

Second Period:

The Predators strikes first in the second period only 1:35 in to the period they got a deflection goal that no matter how hard anyone tried nothing was stopping it from going in. After the goal Dallas took control of the game, they weren’t giving a single inch to the Predators and were firing everything on net.

After the Nashville goal it looked like the Stars lost any energy that they had, they started losing foot races and their shots got fewer and fewer as the period continued. Nashville started to take control of the game by just out skating the Stars.

The Stars captain Jamie Benn took an unneeded penalty that lead to a Nashville goal after a miss communication by the Stars penalty killers, there was nothing Niemi could have done with the bullet from Shea Weber.

Right after that goal the Stars unable to keep the puck deep in the offensive zone Nashville skates the puck up ice and just throws it on net and the puck somehow finds its way in.

That was the end of the night for Niemi and the Stars looked flat, for most of the rest of the period looked flat until the Stars got a 5-on-3 power-play which they made quick time on scoring in the first 30 seconds to reduce the lead to 4-2.

After the Stars second goal they found a second wave and controlled the puck for the remaining of the period but they were hesitant to shoot the puck.

Radek Faksa took a penalty late in the period that I would call as questionable, both players were holding on to each other and one just happened to lose his edge on the ice, the Stars were able to kill off the first half off before the end of the period. Dallas was only able 10 shots in the period while giving up 14 shot.

Third Period:

The Stars came out in the final 20 minutes rather flat, for the first 4 minutes they didn’t really show the energy that they needed being down two goals. Jason Demers took a penalty for cross checking in front of the net which could of cause the Stars to dig out of a deeper hole, but there were able to kill off the penalty.

Kari Lehtonen took a Weber snapshot right at the end of the power play where he said down for a few moments before being able to shake it off. It was a scary moment to see a goalie go down like that after the shot but he remind in the game.

The Stars payed the price again for some bad D-zone coverage and the inability to clear the puck out of the zone. The Stars collapsed to one side of the ice leaving Ryan Johansen all alone who one-timer didn’t miss at all and the Stars found themselves down 5-2.

Dallas was able to make it a 5-3 game after Cody Eakin won a puck battle and then the Stars were able to keep the puck deep until Fiddler was able to rip a shot of the high slot to beat Nashville’s goalie.  The Stars were able to take control of the game after the goal, beating Nashville to every puck and just throwing everything on net.

Frustrations finally boiled over with 12 seconds left in the game Jamie Benn dropped the gloves after a face-off to send a message that the Stars weren’t going to go away easy.

Final thoughts:

After a good start to the second half of back to back games the Stars fell just short of getting 2 points.

The final score of 5-3 doesn’t represent how the Stars players or goaltenders played. Everyone had the pedal down the whole game and they were able to push Nashville all the way to the end of the game.

The Stars have now only won one game in the last eight. The second period was the down fall to Dallas giving up 3 goals. Both goaltenders played well for the most part, 2 goals for Niemi were tipped and he still got a piece on them and Lehtonen played solid giving up only 1 goal.

The Dallas Stars look to bounce back to winning ways when after a two day break they return home to Play the Devils at 7:30 on Friday night.

Game notes:

Shots on goal: 38-34 in favor of Dallas

penalty kill: 3-4

power play: 1-3

Russell played 18:21 in his debut, with some of that time coming on the first penalty kill unit and was a minus 1

Niemi was pulled after 4 goals on 18 shots.

Sharp left the game with two minutes to go in the second period with a injury.