5 takeaways: Radulov comes alive, PP goes dormant in loss to Senators

Though the Stars played a better game Sunday than they did on Saturday, they still came away without any points. Despite goals from Michael Raffl and Joe Pavelski, the Stars fell 3-2 to the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre on Sunday for their second consecutive loss.

For anyone looking for positives, Dallas was able to score within the first five minutes of the game. But much like with Saturday's game in Boston, the Stars also went long stretches where they couldn't generate a consistent forecheck.
Here are the five takeaways from the game.

RADULOV CAME TO PLAY

Stars head coach Rick Bowness said he needed more from his best players, and Radulov got the message. The Russian winger was Dallas' most dangerous player of the game in his best outing of the season. Radulov made things happen on nearly every shift and earned the primary helper on Raffl's opening goal.

The 35-year-old nearly scored moments later when he raced in on a 2-on-1 but was stopped by Filip Gustavsson. Radulov was in the zone, and it was apparent from the drop of the puck.
He finished with an assist, two shots, two takeaways and a blocked shot in 19:39 TOI.

HAKANPAA, HANLEY HAVE A SOLID OUTING

Jani Hakanpää and Joel Hanley quietly put together a strong game on the third pair against the Senators. Neither player is flashy, though at 6-foot-6 Hakanpaa makes his presence known when he lays the body.
The big Finn had a terrific goal-line stand to neutralize a glorious scoring chance for Senators forward Josh Norris.

Hanley, meanwhile, came close several times to potting his second career NHL goal (and first in the regular season). Don't forget, Hanley is in the lineup because John Klingberg is out with a lower-body injury.
Plus-minus doesn't tell the whole story, nor should it be the be-all and end-all, but Hakanpaa and Hanley each finished with a +2 rating in a 3-2 loss.
Hakanpaa concluded the night with two shots and three hits in 12:43 TOI while Hanley had two shots and one block in 12:27.

GIVING UP GOALS IN FINAL FIVE

It's never good to give up goals at the end of a period, and the Stars have been guilty of that four times already in three games.
They gave up a power-play goal to Chris Tierney in the final minute of the second period on Sunday to make the score 3-1 Senators.
Brad Marchand scored not once, but twice with under three minutes remaining in the first and third periods, respectively, on Sunday, though his second goal was into an empty net.
Dallas also gave up a goal to Chris Kreider with 4:06 remaining in the second period of the season opener on Thursday but lived to talk about it.
It's a trend that needs to end quicky.

SEGUIN LOADS UP ON ICE TIME

Tyler Seguin's hip must be feeling good because only Miro Heiskanen had more ice time than him on Sunday.
Seguin finished the game with a whopping 24:03 TOI over the course of 26 shifts. He went scoreless, but had two hits, three blocked shots and a 58% faceoff winning percentage (7-of-12).
The fact of the matter is Seguin is still without a point through three games. A fixture on the power play, the 29-year-old forward is going to have to put numbers on the board soon.

POWER PLAY NEEDS TO PRODUCE

On paper, the Stars have one of the best power plays in the league. But even without Klingberg and Jason Robertson, there's still enough weapons on both units to inflict damage.
Instead, the Stars are 1-for-10 with the man advantage this season. They went 0-for-2 on Sunday, and it felt like they spent more time regrouping in their own zone than working it in the offensive zone.
It's not crazy to think they could be 3-0 instead of 1-2-0 had they converted on a few more PPGs.
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Kyle Shohara is the Digital Manager for DallasStars.com and writes about the Stars/NHL. Follow him on Twitter @kyleshohara.