Stars can’t finish, fall 3-1 to Blues

Friday, February 27, 2009-1:38:am
/Andrew's Dallas Stars Page                            

Once again the chances were there for the Dallas Stars, but the finish wasn't. The Stars put 42 shots on net, but could only get one goal past St. Louis goalie Chris Mason and lost 3-1 to the Blues Thursday night at American Airlines Center.

"It's frustrating," said Stars forward Steve Ott. "We're putting in the work ethic, which is great to see, but we've got to find a way go capitalize. I had a handful of chances right on the doorstep. We hit four different posts. It's just not good enough. We've got to put pucks in the net and win games."

The loss was the third straight for the Stars and their fifth in the last eight games (3-5-0). During that eight game stretch the Stars have scored just 12 goals.

"We had a lot of chances that we have to bury. We hit a lot of posts and it's frustrating for sure," said Stars center Mike Ribeiro. "We have some guys with opportunities to play and the work ethic is there, we just need to capitalize on the chances."

Mason, who was playing in his 17th straight game, was a major factor in the Stars' misfortunes, turning in a superb 41-save performance. He is 10-3-4 in those 17 games. He's allowed just four goals in his last four games.

"That was a celebration of exceptional goaltending, that's what it was," St. Louis coach Andy Murray said.

At the other end of the ice the Stars were plagued by critical mistakes that turned into St. Louis goals.

"Our margin for error is very slim," said Stars coach Dave Tippett. "All three goals we gave up were plays where we had the puck on our stick in our own end with a chance to clear it and didn't. We're not scoring enough to overcome mistakes like that, and that's too bad because we are trying hard."

The Stars outshot the Blues 42-22 on the night. If you count missed shots and blocked shots, the Stars put 77 shots at the St. Louis net while the Blues put 38 towards the Dallas goal. But the difference was the Blues finished on three of their chances and the Stars could finish on only one theirs.

A major sticking point for the Stars was the power play, which was 0-6 in the game. Down 3-1 in the third the Stars had a chance to get back in the game with a 4:00 power play, but were able to muster just one shot on goal.

"You don't score on the power play and you don't create momentum then you just keep shooting yourself in the foot," said Ott. "All of the power play guys definitely have to look at themselves in the next couple of days and figure it out."

Things got off to a good start for the Stars, who scored 6:16 into the game to take a 1-0 lead. Ribeiro circled around the left circle and fired a cross-ice pass to a hard charging Jere Lehtinen, who roofed a shot over Mason for his eighth goal of the season.

But the Blues bounced back a little less than seven minutes later when Stars goalie Marty Turco went behind the net to play the puck, but had it knocked away from him by Blues forward B.J. Crombeen. The puck ended up on the stick of Jay McClement, who put into the open net to tie the game at the 13:06 mark of the first.

"When he handles it as much as he does, you're going to see that now and then," Tippett said of Turco's turnover  that led to the goal.

After a scoreless second, the Stars came out on fire in the third period and created several chances. Mason came up with some big saves. The Stars had some close calls. Forward Mark Parrish hit the crossbar and Lehtinen hit a post.

But it was the Blues who got the tiebreaking goal. Patrik Berglund stole the puck from Darryl Sydor along the boards in the Dallas zone and got the puck to T.J. Oshie, who skated to just below the right circle and beat Turco with a perfectly placed shot into the top of the net.

Just 1:09 later the Stars had a chance to clear the puck, but Blues defenseman Barret Jackman pinched along the boards to keep the play in the zone and David Perron sent a pass from behind the net to Berglund, who scored from the right circle to make it a 3-1 game.

Robidas would rattle a shot off the post, the Stars would miss on that 4:00 power play and Parrish would hit the crossbar again before time finally time ran out them.

The win was the third straight for the Blues, who have won five of seven and are 11-3-5 in their last 19 games. They pulled to within three points of the eighth place Stars in the Western Conference standings.

"We've been climbing [in the standings] and it's been fun to be a part of," Mason said. "Every game means something. There's no team out of it. Every game is a playoff game."

For the Stars, they fell to 1-3-0 in the first four games of a key six-game homestand. They have games Saturday and Sunday against Anaheim and Pittsburgh, two more teams fighting for their playoff lives. And then they begin a stretch where they'll be on the road a lot.

"It's definitely not going to get any easier," said Ott. "You can say we've got a lot of hurt guys and you can say we've got a lot of road games, but that's no excuse, we still have 20 capable guys in this room. We have no choice if we want to make the playoffs; we have to keep pushing and we have to find a way to get it done."