DALLAS — The Dallas Stars embarrassed themselves in the first period of 4-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets.
Two games after spotting the Jets a 3-1 lead in Manitoba, the Stars were even worse at home on Monday.
The Jets led 1-0 26 seconds into the game, a goal against the top line, and the game was all but wrapped up when Blake Wheeler dished out his third assist of the period with 57 seconds remaining in the first.
“It’s embarrassing, really. It seems like you can pretty much win a hockey game in the first period these days,” Stars captain Jamie Benn said. “They’ve done it to us twice now, and we did it to buffalo last game, there is no excuse. It’s embarrassing.”
Benn was particularly disappointed with the opening shift, where Mark Scheifele was able to skate from the red line in untouched and beat Ben Bishop with a wrist shot.
“There’s no reason. Our line had a bad start and got scored on first shift and like I said, it’s embarrassing, there’s no excuse,” Benn said. “Especially when they did that to us last game in their building and want to come out and make a statement and bounce back and we definitely did not do that.”
The Stars did play better in the final two periods, but after dropping to 1-4 against Central Division teams the players weren’t interested in moral victories.
“I don’t think that matters,” Bishop said when asked about the final 40 minutes.
Jason Spezza, who is still looking for his first goal this season, said there wasn’t much to talk about after 20 minutes.
“There wasn’t much that had to be said,” Spezza said. “That wasn’t a good enough period, you can win or lose games in the first period. The other night we won a game, tonight we got behind against this team that we know starts well.”
Bishop finished with 22 saves on 25 shots and it wasn’t his fault the team lost, but Stars coach Ken Hitchcock needed a better opening from his goalie.
“I thought he was like our team. He was off early and got going later and gave us a chance,” Hitchcock said. “When it was 3-1, he gave three big saves in the second and two big saves in the third.”
Having a no-show against a Central Division opponent is even more disappointing for the Stars. These are the games that could come back to haunt them late in the season in a division filled with teams still trying to separate themselves from the pack.
The Jets, who now have points in eight straight games, happen to be a perfect 4-0 against the division.
“Yeah, it’s big for us. We know they’re big games,” Scheifele said. “We always have to be ready for these division games.”
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