At times in Wednesday's 5-4 loss, another in which they lost the lead late in the game, they looked lackluster and at other times they looked energized. Sometimes it adds up to points and sometimes it doesn't. That's how you end up being a .500 team.

And the Stars are what they are right now - .500 team. They look the part and play the part. They simply don't have enough players clicking at a high enough level to get the job done. They can't seem to execute at critical times right now. That adds up to mediocrity.

The Stars seem to be inconsistent from game to game and within games and the lulls are costing them big time right now.

"The urgency and commitment to get things done wasn't there at times," said Stars coach Dave Tippett. "At times It goes in flourishes and other times it is not there. We have to find a way to make that commitment be there all the time."

It wasn't there enough of the time Wednesday, especially at the end, the Blackhawks scored two late goals to erase a 4-3 Dallas lead and skate away with a 5-4 win, their second over the Stars this season. It was the second straight game this week in which the Stars lost a lead late and lost two points. 

"Sometimes when you play with the lead, your mind set changes a little bit, and we've got to get that back," Stars captain Brenden Morrow said.

Said Stars center Mike Modano, "We're shooting ourselves in the foot. Little things things have added up, and mistakes that seem minimal at the time are costing us points in games. It's unfortunate. You can't play a perfect game, but for us it has to be near perfect for us to get points."

The Stars were far from perfect through the first two periods. The missed on three power play chances where they could have broken a 1-1 tie. Instead, Chicago scored on its first power play chance to go up 2-1 in the second. The Blackhawks, who controlled play in the second, were able to score again to get the three goal lead.

Tippett made a goalie change, replacing Marty Turco with Mike Smith. He shortened the bench, juggled lines and changed up the defensive pairings a bit.

The Stars got some jump in the third and went on tear, rattling off three straight goals to take the lead. But they couldn't maintain that momentum or hold the lead. The Blackhawks, instead of fading away, bounced back strong and made two big plays to finish off the Stars.

With a penalty call on the Stars coming, Chicago's Robert Lang zipped a long pass to a wide-open Jason Williams at the side of the Dallas net. It's a 4-4 game on Chicago's first shot of the period.

Then with less than 30 seconds remaining Chicago defenseman James Wisniewski threaded a pass to Williams, who skates in and beats Smith 20.4 seconds left in the game.

"We did everything to win the game and then it was the last five minutes again where mental mistakes cost us," said Stars center Mike Ribeiro.

And those mistakes are starting to add up for the Stars, who have lost three of four games. Two winnable games this past week added up to no points. Those points may not seem like much, but they are points that can haunt a team in a tight playoff race, which is probably where the Western Conference will be headed this season.

"Somebody else figured it out, but I told them after the game," Modano said. "Can't do it that way."

• Mike Ribeiro ran his points streak to seven games with one goal and two assists.
• Brenden Morrow ran his points streak to seven games with an assist.
• Philippe Boucher's goal was his first of the season.
• Niklas Hagman scored his league-leading third shorthanded goal of the season.
• Joel Lundqvist played just 5:32 in the game and did not play at all in the third.
• The last time the Dallas Stars finished the month of October with a .500 was 2001-02, when they went 4-4-5.