In what was a pretty hard fought game between two good teams the Dallas Stars couldn't catch a break. At least that's how Stars coach Dave Tippett saw it after the Stars fell 4-2 to the Senators at the American Airlines Center Friday night.

Tippett expressed some frustration after the game over a couple of key calls. One came on a high sticking call against Stars forward Stu Barnes, which led to a power play goal by Ottawa that turned out to be the game-winner.

Both referees missed the play but a linesman stopped the game to make the call, which was a legitimate one.  Later, after the Stars had pulled to within 3-2 with 1:49 to go, Stars forward Jussi Jokinen took a high stick to the face on the ensuing faceoff. There was no call this time around. All the officials missed that one.

"I was amazed they could see that one but not the one on Jokinen," said Tippett. "Those are frustrating things when your team is battling hard and trying to find ways to win. Those are situations that go against you and they're frustrating."

And the Stars lost one of their better players in the game when Niklas Hagman was given a major penalty boarding and a game misconduct after slamming Ottawa's Christoph Schubert into the boards late in the second period.

"They said he was in a vulnerable position and hit from behind," Tippett said. "If that is our player getting hit, we'd be upset also."

Tippett also said there was also a missed hand pass on Ottawa's second goal, the one where Antoine Vermette beat Stephane Robidas and Matt Niskanen and then whipped the puck past Smith to give the Senators a 2-1 lead late in the first period.

"We've got a group that battled hard. We're short some people, but we've got some people who are battling hard," said Tippett. "The old saying sometimes the game doesn't let you be good. We couldn't get a break from some of the calls to some bounces around the net."

The Stars may not have gotten some calls, but did have their chances. After falling behind 1-0 in the game they had four power play chances in the first period, including a five-on-three. They ended up scoring on the two-man advantage but couldn't cash in on anything else. They ended up 1-6 on the power play in the game.

"We were getting good initial shots, but we weren't battling hard enough for those second and third [opportunities]," said Stars captain Brenden Morrow. "We just couldn't get to those [rebounds]. That was the difference in the game."

The Senators, on the other hand, did make the most of their chances. They scored on their first shot of the game when Christoph Schubert's wrist shot beat a screened Mike Smith.

After the Stars tied with the power play goal, the Senators struck again with a great individual effort by Vermette to make it a 2-1 game.

"I needed to make some saves early and I didn't do that tonight. Once you get behind, you chase the game and it's unfortunate to start like that," Smith said.  "A couple of more saves on my part would have made it a different game."

The Senators were dominant most of the second period. They were relentless on the forecheck, kept the Stars hemmed in a good part of the time and allowed Dallas just one shot on goal.

"We skated well. It seemed like we were controlling it a little bit more in the neutral zone and hanging on to pucks down low," Senators center Mike Fisher said. "The guys seemed to have a little more energy and a little more will tonight, and that resulted in an overall pretty good effort.

"We've been forechecking a little bit harder, creating chances and playing a little bit more of the style we started off. It's nice to get back to playing the way we know we can."

Said Tippett: "We were just on our heels... I liked the way we battled through it. We didn't give up a lot."

That allowed the Stars, as Tippett likes to say, hang around the game. They were still down just 2-1 heading into the third period. The penalty kill came up big killing off the major on Hagman, but the penalty woes finally caught up with the Stars.

It was Fisher who popped home the key power play goal with Barnes in the box for high stick to make it a 3-1 game early in the third. At that point the Stars started to push hard, but it ended up being too little, too late.

A Mike Ribeiro goal made it 3-2 game with 1:49 remaining, but the Stars didn't get a call with Jokinen taking a stick to the face and they couldn't the equalizer with the goalie pulled. Chris Kelly' empty netter with 30 seconds left sealed  the deal for the Senators.

The Stars have opened their current homestand with two straight losses and have dropped four of six games. Friday's game was their eighth in the past 13 days. They could probably use a little break. They've got a practice scheduled for Euless tomorrow and they'll take Sunday off before taking on the Oilers at the AAC Monday night.

• Niklas Hagman had 18 penalty minutes coming into Friday's game. He picked up 17 penalty minutes Friday night.
• Hagman's goal snapped a five-game pointless streak.
• The Stars' power play is 3-30 over the past seven games.
• Stars coach Dave Tippett said he expects Antti Miettinen (groin) and Loui Eriksson (shoulder) back for Monday's game against Edmonton.