Reminder: You can’t play the puck with a foot in the penalty box

DALLAS — You can’t play the puck if you have a foot in the penalty box.

Seems simple enough, right?

Wrong.

For the third time this season a player was given a penalty for interference at American Airlines Center for playing the puck while they still had at least one foot in the box. Each of the miscreants, including Colorado Avalanche defenseman Patrik Nemeth on Saturday, returned to the box immediately to serve another penalty.

“I didn’t know it was a penalty, they called it for interference, I’ve never heard of that before,” Nemeth said.

Nemeth’s teammates hadn’t heard of the penalty either. For a team that won 4-1, it was a chance to laugh about an odd rule that NHL players seemingly aren’t aware of.

While NHLers may be in the dark, the fans at American Airlines Center are well versed in the infraction. After seeing Antoine Roussel called for it earlier this season, and then New Jersey Devils defenseman Sami Vatanen, there was a chorus calling for the penalty when Nemeth did the same thing.

Nemeth said that when he re-entered the box the attendant in the box actually laid out the past history of the penalty in Dallas this season.

“Seems like it happens a lot here,” he said. “Guess we know for the future.”

Blame Bishop?

Ben Bishop needed to be better in the third period, and he owned up to that after the loss.

“I don’t think it was a terrible effort, we did a pretty good job, we just couldn’t find the back of the net,” Bishop said. “They got two there in the third where I’ve got to make a save.”

On the go-ahead goal Bishop was beat five-hole by Nathan MacKinnon, a shot that duped the goalie for a 2-1 lead.

“I don’t think he was trying to go five-hole,” MacKinnon said. “I think he kind of fanned on it five-hole and sometimes that happens.

The third goal by Blake Comeau was high to the glove side, but probably should have been stopped. Before that rush Bishop was seemingly preparing to make a sprint to the bench for an extra attacker, so there’s a possibility his feet weren’t properly set on the play.

Either way, it’s a save the Stars needed.

While Bishop took the blame, Stars coach Ken Hitchcock — who has called out goalies before — decided to shift the blame to his offense.

“Well, I don’t like commenting on the goalie stuff. They are the last line of defense and that’s an open forum. It’s like you ask the obvious questions and let him answer that. If he feels he should have stopped it, he should have stopped it, but I just know you’re not going to win a lot of games scoring one goal,” Hitchcock said. “Bottom line. Especially at home. You have to score more than one goal. We had too many quality scoring opportunities. We had four breakaways. We had too many quality scoring opportunities and missed them and that did come back to haunt us. It hasn’t before, but it did this time. That’s twice against this team and against that goalie [Johnathan Bernier] that it has come back to haunt us with all of those quality chances. So, that’s disappointing.”

Long review

One goal Bishop allowed, but didn’t count came in the second period when he got tangled up with Comeau behind the net and Carl Soderberg than shot the puck into the empty net.

There was a lengthy review in Toronto on the play, lasting nearly 10 minutes, and eventually the play was reversed.

His foot just made contact with mind, kind of like a slewfoot, I don’t think he was trying to slew foot me, but that was kind of what happened, I kind of thought it was pretty obvious,” Bishop said. “(Tim Peel) is a good ref, sometimes there gonna miss stuff, but they got the call right and that’s all that matters.”

Avalanche coach Jared Bednar actually agreed with the call.

“I thought it was the right call. (Comeau) does get a piece (of Bishop),” Bednar said. “We looked at it on the review. I would have liked to have seen a penalty call after that, because a bunch of guys attack him. I thought that was a little bit strange, but at the time you’ve just got to turn the page and move on.”

In my opinion, it actually should have been a penalty on Comeau. I understand the rule, but I disagree with it.

It should either be a penalty and no goal, or it should be a goal against. And in this case, since they rule it was interference, it should have led to a power play for Dallas.

Century mark

Tyler Pitlick played his 100th career NHL game on Saturday and by my view actually played quite well.

His line had consistent chances and if not for the bad five-hole goal against Bishop, they would have completely kept the Avalanche’s top line off the score sheet.

Pitlick was a bit harder on himself.

“I thought we were ok, we got pucks in deep and we tried to hang onto it and battle, but we couldn’t seem to get a lot of sustained pressure,” he said. “That’s our game it’s hanging onto the puck and making plays down there and getting pucks to the net and weren’t quite able to do that.

Pitlick did reflect a bit on reaching the century mark, which is a big accomplishment for a player that’s missed so much time in his career due to injury.

“It’s been a battle for me, I think everyone knows I’ve had a string of hard injuries to go through and come back from,” Pitlick said. “So it’s a good feeling to get that mark, so hopefully I can stay healthy and be in a lot more games.”

Face-off dominance

The Stars dominated the face-off circle on Saturday, winning 40 of the 59 draws.

Jamie Benn won 10 of his 11 face-offs, Tyler Seguin won 12 of 20, and Martin Hanzal won six of seven.

On the flip side Avalanche center Carl Soderberg had a horrendous night, winning just three of 17 face-offs.

Odds and ends

— Defenseman John Klingberg notched an assist (0-1=1) and is now riding a six-game point streak (2-7=9). The blueliner now has points in a career-best 10-straight games at American Airlines Center (2-12=14). His 10-game home point streak is the longest by a Stars player since captain Jamie Benn posted a 13-game home point streak (9-9=18) from Jan. 14 – March 2, 2017, which was the second-longest point streak on home ice in Dallas Stars history. Klingberg has 40 points (6-34=40) in 44 games this season, ranking first among NHL defensemen in points (40) and assists (34). On home ice this season, he leads all League blueliners with 27 points (4-23=27).

— Jamie Benn potted a goal (1-0=1) tonight against Colorado and now has points in three consecutive games (2-1=3). Benn inked the scoresheet in nine of his last 10 games (5-6=11). This season, the native of Victoria, B.C. has registered 40 points (18-22=40) in 44 games.

— Forward Alexander Radulov recorded an assist (0-1=1) and has 10 points (4-6=10) over his last six games. Radulov has skated in all 44 games this season and has registered 39 points (16-23=39)