On Saturday night the Dallas Stars lost a hockey game.
The details and manner in which that loss occurred are inconsequential at this point, because the same issues that have plagued the Stars throughout this season once again reared their ugly head. Turnovers, giveaways, horrible decisions with the puck, suspect goaltending, bad shot selection and just general all-around mental malaise resulted in what was classified as an “embarrassing” loss to the Colorado Avalanche.
There’s a lot to say about what is happening with this team this season and with each game that progresses, it’s becoming clear that perhaps the struggles during that losing streak were more indicative of the true nature of this team than many may be willing to admit.
Lindy Ruff called his team’s performance “pathetic” while Jamie Benn stated the team wasn’t nearly mentally ready for the game. In a season full of crappy performances in losing efforts — as well as in some winning efforts, even — perhaps Saturday’s game was the “wakeup” call they really needed. Or perhaps, since this story has been repeated several times over already this season, faith that the Stars can figure this out and get this ship righted is severely waning.
Playoffs. Playoffs? Don’t even mention the playoffs, until this script gets a rewrite.
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Daily Links are a bit light this morning. Which is probably for the best.
Mike Heika has his observations here. I have a feeling we’ll be building on this thesis tomorrow. [Dallas Morning News]
It was an “embarrassing” and “pathetic” turnover display on Saturday night. [Dallas Morning News]
Mile High Hockey has a great feature on the similar struggles of the Stars and Avs so far this season. [MHH]
Hey look, the Nashville Predators won again. [NHL.com]
The Toronto Maple Leafs honored Pat Quinn [Puck Daddy]
Finally, here are the videos of last night’s post-game reactions: