When I got home after a night of trick or treating with my daughter, I was told this game essentially came down to a 1:43 stretch in the middle of the third period where Patric Hornqvist and Kevin Klein gave the Preds their first lead of the night.

And after last night's wild contest went into the shootout, the Stars just couldn't muster enough energy to get back into this one. In fact, I fast forwarded to the third period and Razor mentioned that the Brad Richards' line didn't have the same jump tonight that they had last night. I think that alone probably tells you the Stars intended on keeping this a close contest and through the first 50:59, it certainly was.

But once the Predators got that two goal lead in the third period, it was over. Hell, I think once the Predators grabbed the lead, it was over. The impetus for Hornqvist's goal appeared to be the shift just before it when the J.P. Dumont line was buzzing around in the Stars' zone and kept the Stars hemmed in practically the entire shit. How Dumont himself didn't give Nashville the lead is a testament to Alex Auld's goaltending.

He almost got out of that jam. And then the Predators took a page out of Florida's playbook, crashed the net, and Patric Hornqvist was rewarded. A screen shot 1:43 later?

Game over. And for the first time this season, the Stars don't get any points on the back end of a back-to-back.

There were a few positives as James Neal extended his point streak to six games and Brad Richards notched a point for the 10th time in the 12 games in which he's appeared in by extending his point streak to five games.

And the Wandell line set up Brian Sutherby for his go-ahead goal in the second period. But in the end, a close game got away from the Stars and they've hit a bit of a bump in the road having gone 0-1-1 these last two nights.

We'll have more on this game tomorrow and throughout the week until the Stars host Calgary this Wednesday.