DALLAS — The Dallas Stars finished a season long home stand with a 2-2-2 record and failed to make up any ground in the Western Conference playoff hunt.
There were chances in each of the losses for Dallas to gain points, including Saturday’s 5-3 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks. However, like Saturday, the Stars failed to execute at key moments and poor decisions on the defensive end proved costly.
“There’s no easy game. Again, we let points slip away,” Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. “Every game that we lost points in on this homestand, we had a big part in letting it slip away.”
Ruff was particularly upset with the defending in the third period.
“I describe it as keeping the game in front of us. We didn’t keep the game in front of us,” Ruff said. “If you look at the (third) goal, if they stay in position, we know Kane’s on the ice. Kane doesn’t get around us on that play. We’d done a good job to that point.”
The Stars top defensive pairing of Esa Lindell and John Klingberg were the most responsible for the mistakes as they were on the ice for all three goals in the third period.
“I think John has struggled with some of his puck decisions and he struggled on that play. We’re looking at that pair to be our best pair. We ask a lot of John,” Ruff said. “When we took the lead, there’s no getting caught there, and there’s no getting caught on the go-ahead play. I think Esa has played a heavy game. He’s been our best defenseman. They’ve been a good pair but in the end there’s been no win.”
Postgame video
The goals
Second period
0:08 Radek Faksa won the opening face-off of the second period and then scored on a bad angle shot against Corey Crawford. Stars 1, Blackhawks 0
Faksa goal pic.twitter.com/7weUSic8oZ
— nope (@myregularface) February 5, 2017
6:20 Ryan Hartman tied the game on a pretty past from Tanner Kero. Stars 1, Blackhawks 1
Hartman goal pic.twitter.com/mof6MLWtRA
— nope (@myregularface) February 5, 2017
8:34 Gustav Forsling scored on a slapshot from the point that deflected off Patrick Sharp’s stick and went through a screen past Kari Lehtonen.
2-1 Hawks pic.twitter.com/VnKrUA54Qz
— nope (@myregularface) February 5, 2017
Third period
0:40 Jamie Benn tied the game when he roofed a backhanded shot over Corey Crawford from a tight angle. Stars 2, Blackhawks 2
#JamieBenn ties the game 2-2 #CHIvsDAL #DallasStars #GoStars #StarsGIFs pic.twitter.com/yXjHdScecW
— ⭐️RoxStar⭐️ (@RoxStar) February 5, 2017
9:24 Tyler Seguin forced a turnover and scored on the wraparound. Stars 3, Blackhawks 2
9:59 Patrick Kane quickly responded and tied the game for Chicago. Stars 3, Blackhawks 3
15:57 Trevor van Riemsdyk scored on a rebound after an initial shot by Artem Anisimov. Blackhawks 4, Stars 3
TvR game winning goal. Good night for the van Riemsdyk brothers pic.twitter.com/devDxa8KTN
— nope (@myregularface) February 5, 2017
19:59 Jonathan Toews scored into the empty net, which was technically a power play goal. Blackhawks 5, Stars 3
Stars lineup:
Jamie Benn — Cody Eakin — Patrick Eaves
Devin Shore — Radek Faksa– Patrick Sharp
Antoine Roussel — Tyler Seguin — Brett Ritchie
Curtis McKenzie — Adam Cracknell — Lauri Korpikoski
Esa Lindell — John Klingberg
Dan Hamhuis — Jordie Benn
Patrik Nemeth — Stephen Johns
Kari Lehtonen
Antti Niemi
Scratched: Jiri Hudler, Curtis McKenzie, Julius Honka
Injured: Mattias Janmark (knee), Ales Hemsky (hip), Jamie Oleksiak (hand), Johnny Oduya (lower body), Jason Spezza (upper body)
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