Stars still have time, but plenty of work remains after rough loss

These are strange days, indeed.

The Stars are in the playoffs -- but not really.

They were hoping to play well in the round-robin portion of Return to Play and possibly improve their seed in the Western Conference -- but there's no penalty if they don't.

There's a chance their game Sunday against the Blues means nothing -- and yet they have to find a way to make it mean a heck of a lot.

That's where we stand after Dallas was run over by the Colorado Avalanche Wednesday, 4-0, at the bubble in Edmonton. The defeat means the Stars are 0-2-0 in the round-robin. If the Blues beat the Golden Knights on Thursday, Dallas can't possibly move above fourth place in the West, even if they win that last game. If the Blues lose Thursday, then the two teams would be playing for third place.

But, really, that's all semantics. Yes, it would determine who the Stars would play when the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs starts, but that's a pretty long way off right now, and a lot can change between now and then.

The hope, of course, is that Wednesday served as a wake-up call for a team that's nowhere near "playoff mode." The hope is that this team realized just how much work needs to be done.

But, when you ask about that …

"Oh-and-two is not where we want to be, so we have work to do," Stars captain Jamie Benn said. "We've got a few days to take care of that before we take on the Blues."

So … shrug… this is the playoffs?

Obviously not.

The Stars on Wednesday didn't show playoff intensity, and when the game was over, they didn't show playoff anger. That's just how this very odd postseason is right now. Dallas wanted to play well against Colorado, it really did. But when the Avalanche controlled pretty much every aspect of the game while scoring two power-play goals and while outshooting the Stars 40-27, it didn't seem like that big of a deal.

"Tonight is tough," Stars interim coach Rick Bowness said. "That's a great hockey club. They're fast. We had our chances to get back in the game and we didn't capitalize. In terms of evaluating us, we know how we have to play."

And not like that.

The Avalanche scored 3:19 in, sort of a repeat of the quick goal allowed against Vegas on Monday. But instead of pushing back, the Stars -simply got tangled up in their own end and started taking penalties. That led to power-play chances and that led to a big Colorado lead.

"I don't think we are where we need to be as of right now," said forward Andrew Cogliano. "We have to realize that this is the playoffs and it's tough to win. Colorado proved that tonight. When you play a team like that, they're a high-talented team, and for us to beat them we have to outwork them and check them and play a simple game, and we weren't able to do that tonight."

Can they do it? The confidence of the masses was slipping wildly Wednesday, and with good reason. If you include the 0-4-2 slump at the end of the season and the exhibition loss to Nashville, the Stars have lost nine in a row. Now, the players and coaches will say that's ridiculous. They're officially 0-2 and they could have won the first game. Calm down.

But … this is the playoffs. Shouldn't it at least feel that way?

"We have to get into that mode for this last game before we head into the playoffs," Cogliano said. "We have some time, we're going to stick together, we're not going to point fingers and we're not going to abandon each other. This is the time where you've got to rally together and be real about where we are and be real about getting better."

Because, eventually, it is going to get real.

Harley shows promise in NHL debut

Stars defenseman Thomas Harley played in his first pro hockey game Wednesday. The 18-year-old was taken 18th overall in 2019 and played with the Stars in the preseason to the 2019-20 season. However, this was his first real game. Both John Klingberg and Taylor Fedun were declared "unfit to play' - the NHL's catch-all description for illness or injury during the Return to Play - so Harley got his chance.

Harley played 10:38 and recorded one blocked shot and one hit.

"The kid looked great, and he earned a shot tonight to give him a look," Bowness said. "It's a tough team to play against in your first NHL game, because they are so fast, and they keep coming at you. So there were times we just let him settle down and watch the game a little bit. Were we happy with his game? Yes."

Klingberg, Bishop, Fedun sit out

To deal with the potential privacy issues that might come with a positive COVID-19 test, the NHL has come up with the label "unfit to play" for every illness or injury. John Klingberg, Ben Bishop and Taylor Fedun were each declared "unfit to play" for Wednesday's game.

The Stars have Thursday off and are scheduled to practice Friday and Saturday before playing the Blues on Sunday. Bowness said he believes both Klingberg and Bishop will be ready to return.

"That's the plan," he said.

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Video: Bowness on Stars failing to capitalize on chancesis a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter Video: Bowness on Stars failing to capitalize on chances, and listen to his Video: Bowness on Stars failing to capitalize on chances.