Stars' up-and-down play not a recipe for smooth sailing

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The Stars' play of late has been a little bit like massive waves crashing down on fans and tossing their emotions around like the S.S. Minnow.
This team is good one period and bad the next. It takes a lead and then loses it. It makes phenomenal, goal-scoring rushes and then retreats and allows goals against that are even more spectacular.
Wednesday night might have been the epitome of the chaos, as Dallas took a 3-1 lead in the second period before allowing five straight goals in a 6-3 loss to the Anaheim Ducks.
"That reminded me of a college basketball game," Stars coach Jim Montgomery said. "There was momentum shifts left and right. I thought it was a great hockey game. I wish we would have been able to manage and weather storms a little bit better, especially in the third, but that's a game we can learn from."

The problem is the lessons are coming at this team in waves.

Dallas had a similar chance to learn from the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday in a 4-2 loss or Friday in a 3-2 win over the San Jose Sharks. Dallas had a horrible start against the Sharks, a horrible middle against the Knights and a horrible end against the Ducks. Heck, to be fair, they had a horrible beginning and end on Wednesday, it's just that the end was painfully memorable.
And each time, fans were left feeling like castaways in a battered dinghy.
"I liked our intensity," Montgomery said. "I liked our work ethic. There was a lot of parts of the game that I take away that are very positive."
The new Stars skipper has been pushing for emotion, and he definitely got that in some pretty plays. Miro Heiskanen scored his sixth goal of the season to cap a symphonic power-play effort in the second period. Then, Devin Shore led Blake Comeau perfectly for a tap in goal in transition. Then, Alexander Radulov scored again with the man advantage, proving that perfect practice can indeed "make perfect."
Montgomery split up his two power-play units on Tuesday and asked them dial up the intensity while seeing which unit could play better. On Wednesday, both units scored, and both units looked good doing it.

"I thought it was good," said veteran Jason Spezza, who finished with an assist. "I thought two goals and sustained shifts and good momentum, a step in the right direction for sure the last couple of games."
But while the shuffling helped there, it wasn't so successful at even strength.
Montgomery broke up Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn to start the game, only to put them together again in the second period. He started Valeri Nichushkin with Seguin and Alexander Radulov, but then lost Nichushkin in the shuffle, as the 23-year-old winger finished with 11:20 in ice time, second-lowest on the team.
Montgomery said he's working to find consistent lines, but also is working to find lines that work. He pulled Brett Ritchie out Wednesday, but will likely return the big winger to the lineup Thursday at San Jose when Martin Hanzal will probably get a rest day after playing three straight games in his return from spinal fusion surgery.
"Yeah, you'd like to get to a point where it's more consistent," Montgomery said. "When you have new bodies coming in and with Hanzal coming in, it's trying to find what's the right chemistry to work with him and also not take away some of the chemistry that was working."

In other words, the team simply has to adjust and make the most of it.
Likewise, the team has to adapt to the goaltending. Ben Bishop and Anton Khudobin have been the Stars' MVPs this season, so allowing them to feel comfortable is key. Bishop likes to play the puck, and everyone is happy when his forays from the net help diffuse the forecheck and keep the Stars in control.
On Wednesday, however, Bishop wandered haphazardly, and his happy-footed performance added to the chaos of the team. At one point, he was caught out of the net on a hard forecheck, on another he lunged out and tried to snap a puck between his legs to Mattias Janmark.
"The last one in the third took a kind of bad bounce off the boards," Bishop said. "The first one in the first, between the legs there, that's kind of one of those you do it and it's kind of, 'Oh, you-know-what' and then hope for the best.
"That wasn't one of my finer moments, but it worked out fine."

In the fact that a goal wasn't scored, sure. In the fact that it established a tone that could have contributed to future anarchy … not so much.
"I thought Bish battled like everybody else," Montgomery said. "I'm sure there were a couple of goals he wishes he could have back. It was pretty chaotic and frenetic in front of his net."
And while Bishop helped cause that, Montgomery said the Stars simply have to adjust to his decision-making.
"I encourage Bish to go out of the net and play the puck, absolutely," Montgomery said. "His hockey IQ is as good as any of our defensemen's."
Which means the waters probably aren't going to get calm anytime soon. The Stars are boat under construction, and that means they will bob up and down a lot. After Wednesday's loss, they currently are under the playoff line. With tough games in San Jose and Colorado coming up, they could take on even more water before returning home.

That just seems the way the season is going to go for fans.
Friday's strong third period helped give the Stars a four-game winning streak. The past two games have been raw emotionally, with the outcomes both disappointing and harsh.
But Montgomery said he believes in this group and its ability to adjust.
"I think we can learn from being able to support each other better in the D zone," Montgomery said. "When things are hectic, I thought we had opportunities to make plays to break the puck out clean, and it seems like we were whacking at pucks and panicking a little bit. That's what we can learn from this game."
Because playing in the waves can be a hectic way to go about your season, and panicking can have some treacherous results.
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mike Heikais a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika, and listen to his podcast.