Burnside: Five takeaways from Stars' overtime defeat

PHILADELPHIA -- The Dallas Stars come home from a four-game road trip through New York and Philadelphia with a 2-1-1 record following a 2-1 overtime loss to the Flyers on Saturday night.
Here are some ponderings at the completion of a trip that featured some of the best hockey the team has played this season, but ultimately, left head coach Ken Hitchcock wanting more after discipline problems cost Dallas a chance to fare better against a red-hot Flyers team.

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1. Show discipline, win. Abandon discipline and pay the price

Sure, the Stars ended up with points in three of four games on this trip, so there is something to be said for that. But the cold reality of the finale is that the Stars put themselves in a position to go 3-1 on a difficult trip and build significant momentum for what will be a heavy home schedule moving forward, but a lack of discipline denied them that success.
The Stars gave the Flyers -- now winners of six straight following a 10-game winless stretch last month -- six power-play opportunities, including one in overtime, and they scored both their goals on the man-advantage. The Stars had just one chance with the man-advantage and failed to score on it.
The overtime loss follows a 5-2 loss to New Jersey on Friday in which a bevy of second-period penalties and failure to capitalize on power-play chances in the third cost the Stars. The losses are in stark contrast to the first two games of the trip when they did not take any penalties in a 2-1 shootout win over the Rangers and a 5-2 win over the Islanders when they built a 5-0 lead by the first minute of the third period with opportunistic, disciplined play.
That, said netminder Ben Bishop, tells you all you need to know about the importance of staying out of the box, especially on the road.
"Obviously, (Friday) night in Jersey, we took way too many penalties, and tonight, we take way too many penalties," said Bishop, who was outstanding in his first start on the road trip stopping 28 Philadelphia shots, including three in overtime before Shayne Gostisbehere scored his second of the game with 1:10 left in the extra session and Alexander Radulov in the box for hooking.
"You just kind of shoot yourself in the foot. We did a good job of salvaging a point there and kind of take the positive. But obviously, it's kind of evident just these four games -- two games, we were real disciplined, won both. And then, two games where we kind of take a couple too many penalties, obviously."
Captain Jamie Benn was more blunt.
"To give yourself a chance to win, you've got to stay out of the penalty box," he said. "Two power-play goals shoots you in the butt. They won the game because of that."

2. The emotional Mr. Radulov

Speaking of Radulov, there is always a risk-reward dynamic with a player who plays with as much fire as the big winger does.
He has often been the best forward on the ice for the Stars this season and his ability to track down pucks in the offensive zone, and create scoring chances from those plays, is among the best in the league. His 27 points are second only to Benn and Tyler Seguin on the team.
But Radulov is also prone to be careless with his stick as his 15 minor penalties, the third-highest total in the league, illustrates.
On this night, Radulov took a high-sticking penalty in the third period and the game tied 1-1, which the Stars were able to kill, and then the OT penalty that, ultimately, led to the winning goal.
"It was two really poor penalties by a good player," Hitchcock said. "It's not team discipline, it's individual. It's disappointing to fight like we fought and battle and come off of playing hard like this off of back-to-back. It's really disappointing to take those two penalties at the end of the game."
Hitchcock suggested that Radulov, perhaps, needs to address the team about the miscues.
"First thing, I think, the player should visit with the team and talk there and see. You would hope that with as hard as we played, something would register, but we'll see," the coach said.
No question, Radulov understands that his play was instrumental in his team's giving up a point on this night.
"It's on me today," Radulov said. "I couldn't take those penalties."
He admitted he was angry that penalties he felt should have been called against the Flyers on plays against him were not called.
"Sometimes, you know, you get elbowed in the face and you don't get calls," he said. "I got frustrated and took stupid penalties, put my team on the knees, so can't do that.
"I take the (responsibility) for that and make sure it's not going to happen again."

3. The challenge moving forward

As Hitchcock noted, the Stars were playing the second of back-to-back games and their fourth game in six days.
They wobbled in the second period when they gave up the first power-play goal by Gostisbehere after a furious attack from the Flyers, but bounced back and in spite of penalties to Gemel Smith and Radulov -- both in the offensive zone in the third -- and had chances to win it themselves.
Seguin drilled one off the post in overtime, and Brian Elliott was sharp, stopping 26 of 27 Dallas shots, including three in overtime.
But Hitchcock threw down the gauntlet to his top players, who could not find a way to contribute offensively on this night and, indeed, throughout the trip.
"We need the impact players to get up another gear if we're going to compete for a playoff spot," Hitchcock said.
He noted the team showed up well against good teams this week.
"But at the end of the day, we're not going to get any better until our impact players have a strong positive impact on the game on a consistent basis," Hitchcock said. "We can't continue to have the role players on the hockey club carry the hockey club.
"We need more from the people. You know exactly who I'm talking about, they need to come through to carry us to the next level."
Among the players, it's safe to assume Hitchcock was referring to are Seguin, who has now scored in just one game in his last 11 (he scored twice on Dec. 3 against Colorado); Jason Spezza, who has two goals in his last 13 games; Mattias Janmark, who has scored in one game in his last 18 (he scored twice in a win against Chicago on Nov. 30); Devin Shore, who has one goal in his past 13 games; and Benn (two goals in his last 14 games).
It's pretty simple, the coach said. The team may be competitive, but it won't be successful until things change.
"We're going to be competitive as hell, but we're not going to be consistent winning until the message is drawn into the top players," he said. "And when it's drawn into the top players, then we'll get a change. Or we'll even go to another gear."

4. About those role players

On the positive side -- and let's be clear, there were a number of positives from this game and from this road trip as a whole -- was the play of players like Remi Elie, Radek Faksa, Antoine Roussel and Smith, who scored the Stars' lone goal of the night after a great play by Elie to get to a puck in the Flyer zone on what looked like a routine play.
We were especially impressed with Martin Hanzal, who centered Elie and Smith and seemed to pass yet another test as he played in back-to-back games for the first time since returning from a hamstring injury that cost him seven games.
Hanzal played 14:13, had three shots on goal and added an assist on the Smith goal. He now has points in back-to-back games, having scored a power-play goal against New Jersey on Friday -- his second of the season and first since an empty-netter on Oct. 10.
"The positive we take out of this is our role players did exactly what they needed to do," Hitchcock said. "Our role players were outstanding and that's what's led us to good team play 5-on-5. They're doing their job."
It's not just the forwards. Greg Pateryn and Dan Hamhuis continue to provide yeoman service as the team's de facto shutdown defensive pair, playing north of 22 minutes each on Saturday night.
On this trip, especially with the power play continuing to struggle, the Stars are most effective when the rank-and-file players are doing more than expected and they can force opposing teams to try and match their even-strength determination.

5. Welcome back, Ben Bishop

Speaking of determined, Bishop was a rock.
There was a sequence during the second period when the Flyers looked like they might overwhelm the Stars. But Bishop stopped nine of 10 Philadelphia shots in the middle frame to keep the Stars in it.
His right-pad stop on Wayne Simmonds during a Philadelphia power play was sublime, even though they scored their first goal shortly after.
"He played a great game. Kept us in it," Benn said. "Made some huge saves to keep us in it there, so thought he was real sharp for not having played for a while."
Bishop downplayed the fact that he'd been in the unusual position of backing up Kari Lehtonen during the first three games of this trip, saying he approaches all of the games in the same fashion. But his calmness was especially impressive factoring in that it was the second game of a back-to-back.
And while Bishop may argue the fact, after a bit of a layoff and coming off consecutive regulation losses -- including one in which he was pulled early in the second period -- his performance Saturday was crucial to getting a point. It also helps bring into sharper focus the bigger picture of the team's goaltending depth, something that Hitchcock feels will be a key narrative in the second half of the season.
"He was outstanding. He was focused and outstanding and you could tell all during the day, he was going to play like this," Hitchcock said.
"He plays like this (and) this gives us a chance to win every night."
This story was not subject to approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club. You can follow Scott on Twitter at @OvertimeScottB, and listen to his Burnside Chats podcast here.