| It appears the Dallas Stars didn't put the 2-1 loss
to Detroit behind them. They just carried it with them
to Chicago and played it again for coach Dave Tippett.
Once again they were unable to extend a 1-0 lead. A
mistake here and a mistake there and all of sudden it's
a 2-1 loss.
"This is two games in a row now
that we couldn't get that second goal," Tippett said
after the game. "Teams are putting our mistakes in the
back of our net and we've got to start cleaning that
up."
The Stars won a defensive zone
draw, but couldn't get the puck out of the zone and it
resulted in a Chicago goal that tied the game.
Tuomo Ruutu hounds Mike Modano in
the Chicago zone, steals the puck from the Stars center
and scores on a breakaway.
Modano, who stood and initially
watched as Ruutu barreled down the ice towards Marty
Turco, said he was expecting a penalty to be called.
That would have meant a power play for the Stars.
Dallas was 0-4 with the man-advantage on this night. The
power play hasn't been much help to the team's erratic
offense.
The lack of scoring and the costly
mistakes are starting to take a toll on the Stars, who
are 5-6-0 in their last 11 games.
They had a strong first period
against the Blackhawks, but the second and third periods
belonged to Chicago, which abandoned its aggressive
style after the first 20 minutes and then ended up
outplaying the Stars the rest of the way.
Up until the final minute of play
the Stars were outshot 22-9 over a 39 minute stretch of
the game. Only some solid goaltending by Turco kept
Chicago from getting on the scoreboard before the third
period.
For the second straight game Turco lowered his goals
against and raised his save percentage, but saw his loss
total climb as well. Although he let in two third period
goals again, it would be hard to pin this one on
him.
He stood no chance on the first goal, a nifty tip by
Chicago's Tony Salmelainen off a point shot by Duncan
Keith. The second one was a breakaway and a good hard
shot by Ruutu.
Turco's main problem right now is a lack of offensive
support.
Although Jere Lehtinen scored a goal Wednesday night,
the dry spell continues for others including Modano and
Eric Lindros. |
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