Final
Dallas Stars 1 – Detroit Red Wings 4
Well, that was a pretty ugly game eh? For the second day in a row the Stars looked like a team with no energy, no fight and no will as they lost to the Red Wings 4-1. The Stars continue to have major issues with the second night of back-to-backs and have now lost four in a row. They get two days of rest and practice before hosting the Phoenix Coyotes.
The Positives:
- Kari Lehtonen had another highlight reel (and possible save of the year) save in this game. He's easily been the best player for the Stars each night and it's a damn shame that he allowed four goals this game. The defense continues to put him in horrible situations and he was once again under siege last night.
- A couple of young guys continue to play well. Cody Eakin looks like he'll be a star for this team in the future and he did well again last night. He had a critical part in Loui Eriksson's goal, worked har din the offensive zone and had three takeaways.
- Brenden Dillon also made some good impressions last night. He had a spirited fight with Jordan Tootoo during the second period that got the team fired up for a while. He threw some vicious uppercuts into Tootoo and was one of the few guys to have some emotion and fight in him during the game. Also, while he's not a fighter, I appreciate the effort from Eric Nystrom at the beginning of the game to fight Tootoo.
The Meh
- What's up with Philip Larsen? The team leader in penalty minutes took another penalty last night and he seems good for at least one a game now. The young Dane needs to get it in control as he's one of the few defensemen on the team that's actually been doing well.
- Lehtonen did well in goal, but I'm still not a big fan of the decision to start him in back-to-back days. He's still dealing with a slight injury issue and the move reeked of early season desperation. The last thing this team needs is to overwork the star goalie when more than capable backups are available.
The Bad
- The defense is just flat out horrific. Nearly every single one of the guys is a human pylon out there and Jordie Benn had the unfortunate lesson of learning not to mess around in the defensive zone while Pavel Datsyuk is lurking around. His turnover behind the net led to the key tying goal for the Red Wings. Lehtonen has enough to worry about without his own defensemen blowing up in front of him.
- Alex Goligoski turned in one of his worst games in a while. He was poor on defense and looked even worse on offense. He's supposed to be a solid puck moving defenseman but he looked lost on the offensive side of the ice and really bogged down the power play for this team. He's amazingly regressed so far in what's supposed to be a critical year for him.
- Penalties. The lack of discipline on this team is just flat out disgusting. Dallas once again leads the league in number of times on the penalty kill. This needs to get fixed immediately. Nothing more to say here.
Dallas has to play a smarter game than that.
Scoring Summary
1st Period: None
2nd Period:
10:22 – Loui Eriksson (3) Dal 1 – Det 0
Assists: Cody Eakin (4), Jaromir Jagr (3)
13:14 – Valtteri Filppula (1) Dal 1 – Det 1
Assist: Pavel Datsyuk (5)
19:36 – Henrik Zetterberg (2) (Power Play) Dal 1 – Det 2
Assists: Patrick Eaves (1), Niklas Kronwall (5)
3rd Period:
6:15 – Damien Brunner (3) Dal 1 – Det 3
Assists: Johan Franzen (3), Zetterberg (5)
6:38 – Valtteri Filppula (2) Dal 1 – Det 4
Assists: Datsyuk (6), Todd Bertuzzi (1)
Game Stats:
|
|
Dallas Stars |
Detroit Red Wings |
|
Shots |
26 | 27 |
|
PIM |
22 | 22 |
|
Power Play |
0 of 5 |
1 of 6 |
|
Penalty Kill |
5 of 6 |
5 of 5 |
|
Hits |
17 |
18 |
|
Face-off wins |
24 |
36 |
|
Blocked shots |
12 |
13 |
