5 Takeaways: Stars Capitalize on Their Chances in Win Over Panthers

SUNRISE, Fla. - The Florida Panthers have allowed a combined 42 shots on goal over the last two games.
Yet, somehow, they've come out on the losing end in both contests.
After allowing 23 shots on goal in a 5-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday, the Panthers finished with a 30-19 shot advantage in a 3-0 loss to the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night at BB&T Center, suffering their first shutout of the season while registering consecutive losses for the first time in almost a month.

Stars goaltender Anton Khudobin made 30 saves to record his second shutout of the season.
"That's the strength of their team, from the backend out and from the goaltender out," Panthers coach Bob Boughner said. "You saw a prime example of that tonight I think. I can't sit here and say we didn't play great, we didn't compete, or we weren't urgent enough. It was a bit of a blah games for both teams I think. It [came down to] who was ever going to capitalize on their chances, to be honest with you."
The Stars took an early 1-0 lead after Tyler Seguin finished off a nifty cross-ice pass from Roope Hintz at 11:47 of the first period. In the second, Esa Lindell beat Roberto Luongo from the slot after taking a feed from Seguin to make it 2-0 at 12:39. With 2:12 left in regulation, Seguin made it 3-0 on an empty netter.
Dallas' 19 shots on goal were the fewest allowed by the Panthers this season.
"The chances that we give up are way too quality of chances," Panthers center Vincent Trocheck said. "We might give up six or seven, but five of them are right in the slot. We didn't really give Lu a chance on the two goals that they scored - two guys, all alone in front, basically backdoor tap-ins.
"We're doing a good job of limiting the chances, it's just the ones that we give up have got to be less-quality chances from the outside. And as a forward group, we've got to be better. We've got to be able to put the puck in the net. Obviously you're not going to win games if you don't score any goals."
Here are five takeaways from Tuesday's loss in Sunrise…

1. QUALITY OVER QUANITY

Like Trocheck said, it was a battle of quality versus quantity in the shot department on Tuesday night.
Although the Stars were held to just 19 shots on goal, they finished with a 12-6 advantage over the Panthers in high-danger scoring chances, according to NaturalStatTrick.com. Of those 12 attempts, two of them found the back of the net. In terms of scoring chances, Dallas matched Florida with 27.
"We had some chances," Boughner said. "I liked our start of the game. We talked about them being the number one team in the league in denying slot chances against. We had to work hard to get inside at their net. I thought at times we did and at times we didn't. I thought we needed more of it, more of a net-front presence. Obviously their goaltender played a great game."

2. POWER OUTAGE

The Panthers are in the midst of a rare drought on the power play.
Entering tonight's matchup with the second-ranked man advantage in the NHL, Florida has converted on 26.5 percent of its opportunities with the extra attacker this season. But after an 0-for-4 performance against the Stars, as well as an 0-for-4 night against Tampa on Sunday, the unit has cooled off a little bit.
"We've got to clean some things up," Trocheck said of the power play. "We'll look at some video, go back. Obviously our power play, with the personnel that we have, we should be scoring like we have been the rest of the year."
Florida had 16 shot attempts and five scoring chances on the power play against Dallas.
"It would have been nice to get one on the power play," Boughner said. "I think that's probably the difference early in the game. But the longer the game went… at 1-0, we kept plugging. It's not like we went in a shell and stopped playing. We just didn't generate a lot."

3. McGINN FEELING GOOD

Jamie McGinn said he's feeling like he's starting to get his game back.
McGinn, who missed the first 54 games of the season after undergoing back surgery, had one hit while skating 9:42 in his season debut against the Stars - including 1:49 on the power play.
"I felt fine," McGinn said. "Pretty frustrating. We gave up too many high-quality chances. It's frustrating. We got our shots, but they weren't high-quality chances. We were kind of one-and-done in the offensive zone tonight."
Now back in the fold, McGinn is expected to bolster Florida's bottom-six. In 76 games last season, the 30-year-old veteran tallied 13 goals and 16 assists. Against Dallas, he was deployed on the fourth line with Riley Sheahan and Troy Brouwer - a trio of three 200-plus pound players that play very heavy.
"I liked that line," Boughner said. "They were pretty heavy. It's not an easy game, one of these games like we just talked about coming back for your first one when it's clogged up and there's not a lot available. I'm sure he'll get better the more he plays, the more comfortable he gets at this speed."

4. HAWRYLUK HEALING UP

Jayce Hawryluk is making progress in his recovery from a lower-body injury.
After missing the last four games, the 23-year-old rookie forward could be ready to return to the lineup in time for Florida's matchup against the Calgary Flames on Thursday at BB&T Center. Still on the injured reserve list, Hawryluk rejoined the team for morning skate prior to tonight's contest against the Stars.
"He skated for the first time yesterday," Boughner said. "He looked actually pretty good to me this morning. I think he's going to get a full practice tomorrow and be a game-time decision on Thursday."
A former second-round pick (32nd overall) in the 2014 NHL Draft, Hawryluk has registered three goals and two assists in 19 games since being recalled from AHL Springfield on Dec. 15. Prior to his call-up, he had been producing at a point-per-game clip for the Thunderbirds, accumulating 28 points in 28 games.
In other injury news, Boughner said that MacKenzie Weegar is still dealing with an upper-body injury.
"Better yesterday, not so good today," Boughner said of Weegar, who last manned Florida's blue line on Feb. 5 against the St. Louis Blues. "It's a day-to-day thing with him. I'm hoping he can get back on the ice tomorrow for practice and, maybe, an outside chance of playing Thursday. That group of six needs him. I thought he was playing pretty well before that. It's just a matter of seeing how he feels tomorrow."

5. MIKE ON THE MIC

Mike Hoffman donned a microphone for FOX Sports Florida on Tuesday night.
Bumped back up to the top line against the Stars, the 29-year-old winger was very vocal throughout the matchup, game planning on the bench with new linemates Evgenii Dadonov and Aleksander Barkov. For an inside look at what's running through Hoffman's head during game, check out the video below!
In his first season with Florida, Hoffman leads the team in both goals (25) and power-play goals (11).