Dallas Stars: Loss To Golden Knights Serves As Important Building Block

Friday night didn’t work out the way that the Dallas Stars had hoped for, and that’s okay. When considering how they played under the circumstances, it was an admirable fight against the Golden Knights that can serve as an important building block in the rest of the regular season.

The Dallas Stars dropped a 2-1 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights at the American Airlines Center on Friday night.

For a team like the Stars, this isn’t a good time of year to be losing games. With Dallas stuck in the thick of the race for a playoff spot in the Western Conference, every point is more valuable than the last with only three weeks remaining in the regular season.

It’s also not encouraging to see the Stars drop a low-scoring game in front of their home crowd to a conference opponent.

More from Editorials

• Dallas Stars hockey is about to be the main attraction in Dallas this year
• Age Before Beauty: The impact of Benn’s new role on his Dallas legacy
• Dallas Stars hockey is the light at the end of the tunnel
• Dallas Stars coverage is lacking and it’s very concerning to be honest
• Sit back, relax and watch Jim Nill and the Dallas Stars draft scouts cook

And yet, in this game between the Stars and Golden Knights, there’s not much to be upset about in the Stars’ end. In fact, there are plenty of positives that the team can extract from this loss and use as they forge ahead in the final push to the playoffs.

Now, is there frustration about Friday’s game? Yes. It’s never easy handling a loss, especially when it bumps a team from third place in the division back to the first wild card spot after they spent weeks clawing their way back up the standings.

What’s even more frustrating, however, is the fact that the Stars lost after putting up an admirable and resilient effort in a tough circumstance.

The game against Vegas marked the Stars’ third contest in the previous four days. That included a stop in Buffalo on Tuesday evening and a visit to the Minnesota Wild on Thursday evening. The two-game road trip concluded with Dallas picking up a dominant 4-1 victory over the Wild in St. Paul and pushing themselves back into the top three in the Central division.

More from Blackout Dallas

• Dallas Stars Traverse City Tournament: Who had great performances?
• Grushnikov and Stankoven lead Dallas Stars to 6-3 win over Columbus
• Dallas Stars prospects look to wrap up tournament with a win
• Burn the tapes: Dallas Stars prospects lose 5-1 to Toronto Maple Leafs
• Dallas Stars look to continue success today against the Maple Leafs

Following that, the Dallas Stars boarded a plane in St. Paul and headed home. They arrived in Dallas in the early hours of Friday morning and skipped their morning skate in an effort to sleep longer and conserve more energy in preparation for Friday night’s game against Vegas.

That would have been the perfect time for most NHL teams to crumble. Whether from fatigue, jet lag, or a lack of drive after reclaiming third in the standings, there were plenty of factors that could have played a role in the Stars bowing to a well-rested Golden Knights team that hadn’t played since Sunday.

And through the first minute of the game, that seemed to be the plan. Vegas scored just 18 seconds into the game on their first shot of the contest when Max Pacioretty scored on a shot that Anton Khudobin admitted he should have stopped during his postgame interview.

But they quickly turned the tempo around. Less than four minutes later, Roope Hintz scored a goal on a steal-and-score play to tie things up at 1-1. The rookie now has nine goals on the season, including six in his last nine starts. He’s playing on the top line with Tyler Seguin and Alexander Radulov and is finding his groove at the most important time of the season.

And while the scoring stopped there, the Stars’ effort didn’t. Instead, they stuck to their game plan. They were strong and structured on defense. Anton Khudobin turned in another impressive performance in net, stopping 35/37 shots. Dallas played up to the Knights’ level in terms of speed, energy, and physicality. The Stars outhit Vegas 26-18 and blocked 19 shots to the Knights’ 18. There were scrums, scoring chances, and a heap of emotion bundled up in the game. That made for an entertaining game overall.

Dallas was churning on offense, putting 41 shots on net and forcing Marc-Andre Fleury to play one of his best games of the season. They actually outshot Vegas 41-37 and generated significant time in the offensive zone.

Now, there were some faults in their game. They didn’t do the best job at clearing out of the zone and gave up a few rebound chances (including one that turned into the game-winning goal). Their power play went 0/5 and missed out on two critical chances to tie the game on the man advantage in the final 10 minutes.

But when looking at the game from a broad scope, it was an impressive and admirable effort by the Dallas Stars. They didn’t get a point from the game, but their energy was impressive. They hit hard, shot often, defended strongly, and put together a 60-minute push on tired legs to keep the Knights on their toes.

And that’s what the Stars will have to do from here on out. Even if they don’t win, the effort must be present every game. If Dallas qualifies for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, this situation will become a nightly occurrence. There will be plenty of traveling, late nights, and a constant need for 100 percent energy.

If Friday night proved anything, it’s that the Dallas Stars are still vying to reach that level. It was one of their most impressive games of the season in the second night of a back-to-back. In fact, there’s an argument to be made that the Stars deserved to win the game against Vegas.

But even so, the game can serve as a positive building block. Dallas saw what they are capable of doing while playing tired against well-rested teams. They proved that they can compete with one of the best teams in the West and keep themselves in the fight using their winning formula. Their effort should provide a dose of confidence for the last leg of the playoff race.

And with only 11 games to go before the more important push begins, that might be exactly what they need.