Stars fall flat in Nashville
/Andrew's Dallas Stars Page
If the Dallas Stars were looking for improvement over Friday's season opener against Columbus, it didn't come Saturday night in Nashville. The Stars followed up Friday's erratic effort with another one, losing 3-1 to the Predators.
"We don't have everybody on board, simple as that," said Stars coach Dave Tippett. " We're trying to find a spark and we didn't have much of it. We have lots of work to do in all areas. Right now we are not even close. We need to find some people to get the job done."
That meant maybe some new faces for Wednesday's rematch with Nashville at the American Airlines Center. Jere Lehtinen, who missed the first two games with a groin injury, could be ready to go, and Fabian Brunnstrom, a healthy scratch Friday and Saturday, could finally make his NHL debut.
Saturday's game might have been a step back. On Friday there were times where the Stars dominated play and in the end they picked up a point in the 5-4 overtime loss to the Blue Jackets. Saturday they picked up no points and there weren't many stretches where they took control of the game.
"It's only two games, but we certainly want to be playing better than this," said Stars captain Brenden Morrow.
The Stars once again found themselves behind after the first twenty minutes, which they were outplayed by Nashville. The Predators held a 15-6 advantage in shots and a 2-1 edge in the goal scoring department.
But unlike Friday, special teams were not able to turn it around and shift momentum the Stars' way in the second period.
The Dallas power play, which has been a point of contention since the preseason, failed to score on five chances in the game including a stretch where they had almost three straight minutes of time with the extra man in the second period. Nashville, on the other hand, scored on two of its seven chances in the contest.
But overall the Predators dominated play, especially in the first period when they outshot the Stars 15-6. They scored 46 seconds into the contest when defenseman Shea Weber pinched in and scored off a rebound. Trevor Daley scored his second goal in as many nights 1:15 later, but ex-Star Jason Arnott scored the first of his two power play goals midway through the period and Nashville had the lead for good.
The Stars were able to hang in the game thanks to sharp goaltending by Marty Turco, who stopped 29 of 32 shots on the night. Arnott and the Predators cashed in on their seventh power play chance late in the game to make it a 3-1 game and seal the deal.
The Predators, who lost their season opener 5-2 in St. Louis Friday night, bounced back strong and were led b Arnott's two power play goals, some nice set up work by J-P Dumont and the goaltending of another ex-Star, Dan Ellis.
“We talked about finding our energy. I talked to the leadership group and they responded," said Nashville coach Barry Trotz. "They took it as a challenge and said that we are better than we were yesterday.”
The Stars couldn't say the same.
"We are competing but sometimes not all together," said Stars defenseman Philippe Boucher. "We need to find our compete level from years past. ... We need to raise our work ethic and play as a group."
And perhaps shake some stuff they let creep into their game during the preseason, when they went 1-5-1.
"We still have some bad habits that occurred in the preseason, and we're kidding ourselves if we think we can have a clean slate after that. We need to take a look deep down individually, and as a team, of who we need to be and where we're at and be realistic about it."
| Game Recap |
| First Period |
| The Stars found themselves down 1-0 just 46
seconds into the game when Shea Weber chipped a rebound over
Marty Turco. The Stars tied it 1:15 later when Brenden Morrow
backhanded a pass from behind the goal line to Trevor Daley, who
ripped a shot past Preds goalie Dan Ellis to make it a 1-1 game.
At 8:36 there was a major scrum that involved Stars forward
Steve Ott and Nashville agitator Jordin Tootoo and fights
between B.J. Crombeen and Nashville's Greg de Vries and Sean
Avery and Nashville's Dan Hamhuis. When the dust settled Avery
and Hamhuis were ejected and Ott picked up the extra minor,
putting Nashville on the power play. Mark Fistric then took a
slashing penalty, giving Nashville a 5-on-3 power play.
Nashville didn't score on that, but did cash in on the remaining
5-on-4. J.P. Dumont sent a pass from behind the net to Jason
Arnott, who whipped the puck past Turco at the 10:54 mark. Score after first period: Nashville 2, Dallas 1 First period shots on goal: Nashville 15, Dallas 6 |
| Second Period |
| There was no scoring in the second, but both
teams had their chances. Brad Richards hit a post for Dallas.
Dan Ellis made a nice pad save on Loui Eriksson to keep it a 2-1
game in favor of Nashville. Marty Turco kept the Stars close
with some big saves, including a diving save on a point blank
shot by Nashville's Jason Arnott. Score after second period: Nashville 2, Dallas 1 Second period shots on goal: Nashville 9, Dallas 7 |
| Third Period |
| Turco continued to keep the Stars in the
game, coming up with a series of saves on Nashville's sixth
power play of the game early in the third. The Stars missed on
their fifth power play chance of the game and then Nashville
cashed in on their seventh chance to make it a 3-1 game with
3:47 remaining. Dumont took a pass from Martin Erat and
redirected the puck to Arnott, who scored from about ten feet
out for his second power play goal of the game.
Final score: Nashville 3, Dallas 1 |
| Official Scoresheet | Official Super Stats |
