DALLAS — Minor details were the difference in the Dallas Stars 2-1 loss to the Columbus Blues Jackets on Tuesday.
They weren’t playing well, but they had a 1-0 lead and couldn’t button up a victory as Oliver Bjorkstrand played the hero in a span of 78 seconds.
On the first goal Stephen Johns badly misplayed a puck off the glass, springing the Blue Jackets forward on a mini breakaway. It was a great opportunity, but it was a shot that Ben Bishop probably should have stopped.
After the game both players took the blame for that goal.
“Just got to catch it,” Johns said. “I catch it, I knock it out of the zone, there is nothing there.”
On Bjorkstrand’s second goal Esa Lindell did a decent job of forcing the forward to a bad angle, but Bishop was beaten over the shoulder on a quick wrist shot.
It was a nice shot, but it was a moment where the Stars needed a save — in a close game, the Stars had the second-best goalie and it cost them.
Stars coach Ken Hitchcock wasn’t interested in dissecting the exact details after the game.
“Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, I mean you’ve got to hammer it down,” Hitchcock said. “We didn’t have everybody going, we had enough going, (Radek) Faksa’s like job did their job — did a great job — we didn’t have everybody going, we still had 1-0 lead in the third period and didn’t get it done, end game. What can I say?”
It was reminiscent of the Stars 4-2 win against the St. Louis Blues. In that game the Stars allowed a 1-0 lead slip away, but they responded with three goals in the final five minutes for a victory. On Tuesday they weren’t able to get that final push.
Top line?
As Hitchcock noted, the Faksa line with Antoine Roussel and Tyler Pitlick was the most effective line.
The line had more than 18 minutes of ice time, more than 25 shifts, and were effective throughout the game. Pitlick had a pair of chances in tight — a rarity for the Stars on Tuesday — and Faksa was tasked with taking most of the key face-offs.
What about Bob?
Blue Jackets goalie Sergei Bobrovsky won his 200th career NHL game on Tuesday and has been dominant against the Stars in his career.
Bobrovsky is now 10-1-1 in 12 games against Dallas.
He wasn’t tested much on Tuesday, but he made the biggest save of the night when he stopped Dan Hamhuis with his left pad early in the second period.
For Bobrovsky the trick was the collapsing defense in front that allowed him to see the puck most of the night.
“It was fun, it was good building to play and guys were great tonight, guys played sacrifice game. (David Savard) made the save of the night there with the back of his head and Jack (Johnson) made some great blocks there at the perfect time,” Bobrovsky said. “I thought guys were solid today, they played strong, they were backchecking hard. There was perfect timing for the good sticks, so I thought we play as a fist, as one team, so I felt that.”
Odds and ends
— It was the first time since Dec. 15, 2016 that the Dallas Stars had a game go into the third period tied 0-0.
— Jason Dickinson had 10 shifts for a 7 minutes, 20 seconds of ice time. Dickinson had three hits and won four of his six face-offs.
— John Klingberg notched an assist (0-1=1) on Devin Shore’s goal. Klingberg has tallied points in his last three games (1-3=4) and in six of his last seven games (1-7=8). The Gothenburg, Sweden native leads League defensemen with 30 assists and 35 points (5-30=35) in 41 games this season.
— The rest of the Central Division had a good night. The Colorado Avalanche, St. Louis Blues, and Minnesota Wild all won.
— This was the Stars 41st game of the season. At 22-16-3 Dallas has 47 points and is on pace for 94 this season.
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