One Step Forward, Two Steps Back: Stars lose to Hurricanes 2-1

The Dallas Stars welcomed the Carolina Hurricanes tonight in the final battle between these two teams this season. When these two teams play each other, anything can happen. We have seen some games with lopsided scores and others with close scores. Tonight was one of those close scores. The Stars would lose to the Hurricanes 2-1 in what was an utter disgrace of hockey from Dallas tonight (minus Jake Oettinger). The Stars have to look themselves in the mirror after TonightTonight.

Oettinger was doing well tonight until Brendan Smith blocked his view. I don't know what was going on with the offense tonight. 10 shots through two periods? It should have been more than that. You would see that amount of shots through two periods in pee-wee hockey. I hope the Stars have a meeting after tonight's game. There is no way they should have lost to a backup goaltender tonight. Here are the three takeaways from the game tonight.

Dallas Stars vs. Carolina Hurricanes Recap: 3. Too many penalties

I thought the Stars learned their lesson from Denver this past weekend, but I guess not. The Stars were making trips to the box too many times. They are lucky Carolina didn't score on any of them tonight. The last thing the Stars needed tonight was to be chased out of their building by allowing power-play goals. It was a good lesson learned: tonight, the Stars shouldn't play with fire when giving out power play opportunities to opponents.

Dallas Stars vs. Carolina Hurricanes Recap: 2. Loved all the blocked shots tonight

Another thing I liked about tonight's game was that the Stars sacrificed their bodies to block shots for Oettinger. The Stars need to improve before the playoffs, and tonight was a strong showing for that department. Oettinger needs all the help to stop an opponent's offense in the Stars' zone. The fact his teammates were blocking shots shows they wanted to help out the franchise goaltender. It's just a small thing I wanted to point out going through the final stats from tonight.

Dallas Stars vs. Carolina Hurricanes Recap: 1. Oettinger

The only reason the Stars were in the game so long is Oettinger. He proved why he was named one of the goaltenders of the week in the NHL. Unfortunately, Jake can't play all the defensive positions. His teammates blocked his view while Jesperi Kotkaniemi scored the game's first goal tonight. Oettinger can only do so much to help the Stars out. Dallas needs to score goals to win hockey games. The Stars welcome the Vegas Golden Knights to town on Friday night.

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