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That Could Have Gone Better: Stars Lose 3-1 to Bruins

Posted on by Ann Atkinson

Thankfully, this Dallas Stars’ road trip east has finally petered to an end with a resounding whimper out of Massachusetts as the Stars lose 3-1 to the Boston Bruins.

Last minute personnel update: about an hour before puck drop Miro Heiskanen was reported to be out due to an upper body injury. What did this mean for the Stars game? Well.

First Period

Despite knowing full well that penalties have been their downfall in their early losses this season, the Stars started off their night out in Boston with an early interference penalty called on Esa Lindell.

Luckily for the Stars, Taylor Hall also wanted a break in the penalty box and he went off for tripping with 44 seconds left in the Stars’ penalty kill.

Though the Stars had more shots on goal with their man-advantage, they did not manage to actually score and play continued at 5-on-5.

Roope Hintz had the best chance in the early part of this game with this sequence down the ice. That was Hampus Lindholm he completely walked.

Denis Gurianov took a penalty for high sticking, because why not go back into the box when you’ve been out of it for a couple of minutes. While on the penalty kill, Hintz took a heavy (but perfectly legal) hit from Connor Clifton along the boards.

Colin Miller dropped the gloves with him and both took five for fighting with no additional penalties. Hintz made the trip back to the bench under his own steam and was back out playing later in the period.

With 57 seconds left on the power play for the Gurianov penalty, David Pastrnak scored the first of the night for Boston.

An absolute rocket.

Shots: Stars 11, Bruins 10
Goals: Stars 0, Bruins 1

Second Period

The Stars took some notes from twitter and stayed out of the penalty box for the entirety of the second period. This would have been ideal, especially after Wyatt Johnston scored his third of the season to tie the game.

https://twitter.com/DallasStars/status/1585061889683247105

Except that Taylor Hall scored his fourth of the season for the go-ahead goal with 63 seconds left in the second period.

What happened between these two events? Well, Boston took a penalty and the Stars had zero shots with the advantage, though they did stay out of the penalty box and managed about the same number of high danger chances they had in the first period, but couldn’t make anything of the power play handed down to them.

Shots: Stars 21, Bruins 22
Goals: Stars 1, Bruins 2

Third Period

The third period was the worst combination of the first and second. The had their best chance in the third in a four-on-one rush in which Luke Glendening, for reasons known only to God and himself, didn’t pass the puck at all but shot it straight into Linus Ullmark’s chest.

The Stars did get another power play opportunity after this when the Bruins sent the puck over the glass, but did not manage a single shot on goal during that time. Denis Gurianov did his best to tie it up but couldn’t finish the rush.

Radek Faksa then took a tripping penalty. The Stars killed off the penalty but had the inevitable happen when they pulled Jake Oettinger for the extra man and Patrice Bergeron finished off Boston’s night with an empty netter.

The Stars fall 3-1, only scoring one goal for the first time this season.

Shots: Stars 31, Bruins 29
Goals: Stars 1, Bruins 3

The Stars will be home again on Thursday for a game against the Washington Capitals. Puck drop will be 7:30 CST on BallySports.

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