Luck not on Stars' side in frustrating OT loss to Panthers

DALLAS --To be fair to the hockey gods, a team that goes 2-12 in overtime and shootouts has to wear that badge of shame.
To be fair to the Stars, the hockey gods were having all sorts of fun at their expense Tuesday night.
Dallas lost in overtime, 3-2, to the Florida Panthers and now have 12 losses past regulation -- three more than the next closest NHL team. If they were playing a regular 82-game season, they would be on pace to break the league record for overtime and shootout losses.

WATCH: [All highlights from Stars vs. Panthers]
As it is with this 56-game COVID-shortened campaign, they are on pace to miss the playoffs after making it to the Stanley Cup Final last season. That would be a more dubious accomplishment than anything that might make it into a record book.
"It's just kind of snowballed on us," Stars forward Joe Pavelski said of the ugly trend of falling in these games. "We have lost a few in overtime and we haven't been good in the shootouts. We have to find the formula."

Asked how the team handles the frustration, Pavelski said: "You just play."
"You have to make your own luck at times, and there have been some bounces that have gone against us, but we get our share along the way as well," he added. "It's the overtime losses. Obviously, those are a little frustrating right now, and the way they have piled up, but we are right there.
"They are tight games, but we have to start finding that extra point here."
This whole season has been one unlikely occurrence after another, so it's actually very difficult to pin down any one reason the team has been so poor in the extra session. Dallas is 1-6 in overtime games and 1-6 in shootouts. The Stars have hit posts, been stoned by amazing saves, and simply failed to convert on golden chances. It's been something different every night. On Tuesday, they had every opportunity to win it in regulation, couldn't get that key goal, and then took an ill-advised penalty in overtime that led to Florida's power play scoring the game-winning goal.
Before that happened, light-scoring Panthers defenseman Radko Gudas had a shot deflect off the stick of Stars forward Rhett Gardner, flutter up in the air, and somehow float over the head of Stars goalie Anton Khudobin in the second period.
It was the first goal for Gudas since January 2020, and just one more sign that luck is not going the Stars' way this season.

"Glad I finally got one through," Gudas said. "I got a little lucky there."
In the third period, Dallas decided to fight back against the trickster gremlins buzzing around American Airlines Center, pushing shot upon shot against Florida goalie Chris Driedger. Dallas had 25 shot attempts and 12 shots on goal, and they finally were able to bust through when Jason Robertson's shot hit the crossbar and Pavelski cleaned up the rebound to tie the contest at the 8:26 mark of the third period.
Dallas continued its assault, and almost got the go-ahead goal when a Jamie Benn shot deflected off the skate of Florida defenseman Anton Stralman and skittered toward the net. Driedger reached back and swept the puck off the goal line before it fully crossed the line, keeping the game tied and setting his team up for the win.
Asked if his team was frustrated by the near misses, Stars coach Rick Bowness said: "No, because we kept going at them."
Bowness said the fact they were close fueled the Stars' desperation and allowed Dallas to build energy.
"If we were getting discouraged, we would've lost momentum. Those chances were giving us momentum," Bowness said. "It's discouraging at the end of the game when you say, 'Wow, that thing should've been over in the third period.' That gets disappointing, because how many times have I sat here and said that to you guys: 'We deserved to win that game.'"
The Stars had a chance to win in overtime, but then Benn was trying to poke the puck away from Florida's Anthony Duclair, stuck his leg out and tripped Duclair. Florida went on a 4-on-3 power play and eventually scored when Frank Vatrano smashed a puck home to move the Panthers to 27-12-4, in a three-way battle for first place in the division.

Dallas is now 15-14-12, and seven points behind Nashville for the fourth and final playoff spot in the division. The Stars have played three fewer games than the Predators (who posted a big 7-2 win over Tampa Bay on Tuesday and are now 13-2-0 in their past 15 games), but also have to start winning those games if they hope to have any chance to catch up.
"We gave ourselves every opportunity to win that game tonight with the Grade-A's, and they didn't go in," Bowness said. "I know that's the same old song, but it's the truth, it's the reality. You saw it tonight with the chances we had.
"That game should've been over in regulation, but it wasn't. Is it disappointing at the end of the game when you lose in overtime on a power-play goal? Yeah."
Almost so much that you think the hockey gods have something against you. But that, of course, is foolishness.
"We played pretty well," said forward Jason Dickinson. "We had a lot of great looks and a lot of great chances. We need to start bringing them in to win."

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American Airlines Center
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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.