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Dallas Stars Daily Links: One Point, Two Minutes, Three Plays

Posted on by Kathleen Tibbetts

The Dallas Stars took one point out of their overtime loss against the Tampa Bay Lightning last night. They never trailed by much and gave as good as they got to a recognizably elite squad.

But how do they win more of these games?

With 16 matches played to date, The Athletic’s Saad Yousuf has examined some patterns that have presented themselves. Which brings us to two minutes – or minor penalties, which the Stars are racking up with a quickness:

Dallas has had at least four penalties in 13 of their first 16 games. Just as the penalties are a common theme, so too is a lethal penalty kill that has mostly helped offset this issue for the Stars. They committed six penalties in Philadelphia on Sunday in a big win and then committed six more in Tampa Bay in a narrow loss. Their penalty-taking tendencies don’t discriminate. They’ve been able to survive this with an aggressive kill that has a league-best four short-handed goals, but play with fire enough and you’re bound to get burned.

“I think if we stay out of the box tonight, I think we’ve got a really good chance at winning that game,” Mason Marchment said. “I’m happy with the group for coming back the way that we did. It was a big goal by (Radek) Faksa there and our penalty kill was really good tonight, too. Like I said, just stay out of the box and play five-on-five and we’ve got a better chance of winning.”

Indeed, the Victory Green Gang’s new style hasn’t been all upside:

…The Stars trailed after 40 minutes three times this season. They lost all three of those games in regulation. They’ve been tied four times after the second period. They lost two of those games in regulation and the other two in overtime. Empty-netters aside, four games this season have been decided by one goal and the Stars have lost all four of them.

Tuesday’s loss in Tampa shared those negative trends. The Stars filled the box to the tune of six penalties, they were tied after the second period and they lost another close game.

There’s much more behind the paywall – including Saad’s three non-scoring plays that deserve your attention. [The Athletic DFW]

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