Dallas Stars’ Late Lapse in Judgment Proves Costly as they Fall to Blues

After the first 15 minutes of the third period, it looked as though the Dallas Stars would find a way to pull out a win against the St. Louis Blues. But, as usual, one mistake by Dallas led to a heartbreaking loss.

The Dallas Stars went yet another game without a victory in 2017 as they lost to the St. Louis Blues 4-3.

Recap

The first period saw Lauri Korpikoski tally an early goal to put the Stars up 1-0. However, St. Louis scored a few minutes later and added a power play tally late in the frame to take a 2-1 lead. The Blues took their one-goal advantage into the first intermission.

In the second period Dallas’ Patrick Eaves scored on the Stars’ first power play of the game to tie it up 2-2. The Blues regained their one-goal lead with a power play tally from the point. At that point Kari Lehtonen‘s night in net came to an end and Antti Niemi took his place.

The momentum swing apparently worked as John Klingberg danced through the St. Louis Blues’ defense and tied the game with a beauty. Dallas and St. Louis went into the second intermission 3-3.

After dominating play for the greater part of the third period, St. Louis scored with 1:54 remaining in relegation on a fantastic tip-in. The Blues held onto their one-goal lead and defeated Dallas 4-3 in regulation.

Thoughts and Observations

Special Teams’ Influence

The Stars were both on the positive and negative side of special teams tonight. They were able to score on the power play to tie the game early in the second period, but they surrendered two to the Blues in the first forty minutes.

Special teams are an area of the NHL that requires an immense amount of skill, dedication and luck combined. Dallas has struggled with both the power play and penalty kill at various points throughout this season and tonight’s game saw evidence of that.

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The Stars were able to convert on their first man advantage of the game, but failed to even get set up on their second opportunity. That kind of stark difference is something Dallas needs to take a look at because they should at the very least be able to get a quality chance.

Simply put having inconsistencies in hockey is difficult to avoid, but special teams is one of the areas that requires it the most. That is definitely something the Stars could have benefited from tonight.

Confidence

Although the game was definitely back and forth, the Stars looked like a more confident bunch. Jamie Oleksiak was in the line-up after missing last game so Stephen Johns could play, but he was noticeably calm throughout its duration.

Klingberg looked like himself in tonight’s match-up and that is certainly thanks to a boost in confidence. The young defender, often named the future of Dallas’ blue line, was skating with determination in all three zones. His second period goal was a thing of beauty and made it so the Stars could go into the second intermission tied as opposed to trailing.

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Dallas seems to have a number of individuals taking this into their own hands and putting in the work to develop a more confident nature on the ice. That will only help the Stars moving forward and is certainly a highlight of their play of late.

Unfortunately, though, the Stars were unable to translate their newfound confidence into a winning result. Lehtonen’s playing time was cut short and the Stars’ lapse in judgment late in the third period cost them potentially two points.

Next: Stars Must Win Now to Ensure Control of Their Future

Moving Forward

Dallas will head to Los Angeles to take on the Kings Monday night in hopes of earning a better result in the first night of a back-to-back. After that match-up, hopefully the Stars will leave with two points and a victory in 2017.