Dallas Stars' young guns salvage a point against Montreal this afternoon

The Dallas Stars hosted the Montreal Canadiens at the American Airlines Center before they travel for the next two weeks on a six-game road trip. Once again, the Stars decided to wait until the second period to ramp up the offense. That tends to be a recipe for disaster for the Stars, since the other team usually has a massive lead by then. The Stars continued to look like the same old team, losing 4-3 to the Canadiens and extending their losing streak to five.

The one thing that I can't stand is committing multiple penalties in a game. I know some of them were not really penalties, but they helped the Canadiens win today's game at the American Airlines Center. You should want to be the team with the extra-man advantage, not on the other side of that. The Stars are now on a five-game losing streak as they are looking for answers. Here are the four takeaways from the loss this afternoon.

Dallas Stars vs. Montreal Canadiens Recap: 4. I wish the Stars had that much luck

What an unlucky goal to go in to open the scoring in the first period as the Canadiens struck first. That puck went off so many bodies, plus Jamie Benn's stick, past Oettinger. I don't know, you could even blame that goal on Oettinger. Think of watching a pinball go off a bunch of different objects and narrowly missing the flipper. I hope the Stars can think of a ritual to replicate that kind of goal when the offense is not doing well.

Dallas Stars vs. Montreal Canadiens Recap: 3. Another slow start in the first period

Is the team staying out late before games? I think the Stars need to stock up on Monster Energy in the locker room after today's game. We need to have better starts than what happened today. Montreal was not going to wait for Dallas to make the first move. Even though the puck bounced off bodies past Oettinger, Montreal came out hungrier to win the game than Dallas did. It's got to be the other way around if the Stars want another long playoff run.

Dallas Stars vs. Montreal Canadiens Recap: 2. Mavrik starting to heat up

I know Mavrik Bourque had a slow start to the season, but he's starting to find a scoring rhythm. According to Sam Nestler of DLLS Sports, Mavrik Bourque has scored two goals in the last three games. I'm wondering if it's time to see if he's good to play on the top two lines if the offense is stalling late in the third period. It wouldn't hurt to have some young flair on the top two lines. I'll be interested to see if Glen Gulutzan decides to test Bourque on the upcoming road trip.

Dallas Stars vs. Montreal Canadiens Recap: 1. Can we stop taking excessive penalties?

The one thing that drove me crazy in the second period was that right when Benn's penalty ended, the Stars went back on the penalty kill a minute later. Can we not play with fire and give a team like Montreal a chance to get back into the game? There is a fine line between being physical and being stupid on defense. Let's not give our opponents a lot of power plays to bury the Stars in a massive deficit. The Stars return on Tuesday night as they take on the Carolina Hurricanes.