A step back: Stars fall 5-2 in Chicago
The Dallas Stars were hoping to build on Wednesday's impressive 4-2 win over the Minnesota Wild with a solid road showing in Chicago Friday night. Instead they took a step back, falling 5-2 to the Blackhawks at the United Center.
"We made too many mistakes to win the game," said Stars coach Dave Tippett. "We wanted to play a sound road game. We weren't close to a sound road game."
Tobias Stephan got his second start, made 27 saves and kept the Stars in the game most of the night with some solid netminding, but he couldn't cover the team's defensive lapses.
"You just can't give outnumbered break after outnumbered break," said Tippett. "Those are just brain cramps and turnovers by us."
The Stars gave up five or more goals for the sixth time in 11 games this season and saw their goals against average rise to 4.09 this season.
"We need to cut down on our goals against," Stars center Mike Ribeiro said. "It's been like five goals a night we have allowed, and we can't expect to score six goals every night."
The Stars once again failed to win consecutive games and once again failed to follow up a good effort with another one. As a result they fell to 4-5-2 on the season.
"It's frustrating after 11 games to be where we are," Stars captain Brenden Morrow said.
The power play, which had been coming around lately, short-circuited in this game. It went 0-5 and missed on 1:08 five-on-three chance in the second period with the game tied 2-2.
"That was our chance to build a lead," said Tippett. "We didn't move the puck and if you don't move the puck you aren't going to get many chances."
Said Chicago defenseman Brent Sopel: “Special teams is going to win and lose you games. If they score the five-on-three goal, it’s a whole different game.”
After Stephan came up with some big saves early in the game to keep Chicago off the board, the Stars struck first on a Loui Eriksson goal 6:17 into the game.
But Chicago tied the game 1-1 on the power play later in the period and then took the lead when Patrick Kane scored on an odd-man rush late in the first. The Stars drew even on a Steve Ott breakaway goal in the second, but the Blackhawks took the lead for good when Kane set up Sopel, who scored from the top of the right circle with 6:34 remaining in the second period.
Andrew's Ladd goal, which came on an odd-man rush and was the result of a Ribeiro turnover, gave Chicago a 4-2 lead with 6:10 left in the game and basically sealed the deal for Chicago.
The injury situation continued to mount for the Stars, who were already missing Sergei Zubov, Jere Lehtinen, Joel Lundqvist and defenseman Doug Janik. Brad Richards was added to the list with a lower body injury. He didn't' play Friday and is listed as day-to-day. The Stars called up Chris Conner from the AHL.
Chicago, which had four players score their first goals of the season, improved to 4-3-3 and 4-0-2 at home. Patrick Kane led the charge for the Blackhawks, picking up a goal and two assists.
“I guess a few different people got us going tonight,” said Kane. “It’s big, especially against a team like Dallas. They’ve got a lot of skilled players, and seeing them getting frustrated is going to give you momentum.”
The Stars now head off to Boston, where they take on the Bruins Saturday night.
"We have to bounce back quickly and be ready to play much better," Ribeiro said. "We have to play better defensively - bottom line."
| Game Recap |
| First Period |
|
Tobias Stephan had to be sharp as the Blackhawks got some good chances early in the game. But the Stars struck first when Brenden Morrow set up Loui Eriksson, who scored from close range at 6:17 to put Dallas up 1-0. But Chicago bounced to score twice to take a 2-1 lead after the first period. The first one came on the power play. With the Stars down a man due to a too many men on the ice penalty, a Cam Barker point shot found its way into the top corner of the net to tie the game at the 9:59 mark. Chicago took the lead with 1:10 left in the
first when Martin Havlat set up Patrick Kane, who finished off
on odd-man rush by scoring from 15 feet. |
| Second Period |
|
The Stars tied the game at 7:39 of the second. Just moments after Stephan made a nice stop on Adam Burish at one end, Steve Ott scored on a breakaway at the other end, beating Chicago goalie Nikolai Khabibulin five-hole, to tie the game at 2-2. Chicago's Ben Eager took a roughing penalty at the end of that play and when Brent Seabrook shot the puck over the glass less the than a minute later, the Stars got a 1:08 five-on-three power play and a chance to take the lead. But they failed to cash in on the chance. A little more than three minutes later Chicago
took the lead again when Kane skated into the Dallas zone and
the sent the puck to Brent Sopel, who scored with a shot from
the top of the right faceoff circle at 13:26. |
| Third Period |
|
The Stars had a power play chance midway through the third period, but a Morrow holding penalty on a Kris Versteeg shorthanded breakaway chance took the Stars off the power play and four minutes later the Blackhawks put the game away with a couple of quick goals. After a Mike Ribeiro turnover, Andrew Ladd
scored on an odd-man rush at 13:50 to make it a 4-2 game and
just 2:01 later Dustin Byfuglien scored off a scramble in front
of the net to make it 5-2. |
| Official Scoresheet | Official Super Stats |
