In a league where road success matters, Stars start off on wrong skate

OTTAWA, Ontario -- Of all the lessons the Stars have learned in the past two seasons, it's that road record doesmatter in the NHL.
Dallas went 16-20-5 last season away from home and 12-24-5 the year before. It is bottom five over that span and has missed the playoffs both times. Heck, the Stars were darn near a franchise-best 26 wins as home last season and still fell short of the postseason.
So getting the road record back on track will be a huge task this season … and it started off on the wrong skate Monday.

Dallas dropped a 4-1 game to the Ottawa Senators, and did so in disappointing fashion. The Stars actually started well and played well at times, but they had key breakdowns and allowed a goal with 20 seconds remaining in the second period and then again 1:27 into the third period.
That swing proved too much to overcome.
"I just think we didn't manage the game well, even in the second when they outplayed us a little bit," Stars coach Jim Montgomery said. "We were in great shape, and then the first two odd-man rushes are in the last minute and 15 seconds, and we had our best players out there."

The second odd-man rush turned out deadly as Ottawa's young defenseman Max Lajoie made a smart decision and scored his fourth goal on this young season. Lajoie came up ice and waited for Matt Duchene to streak to the net. Lajoie allowed Duchene to cause a screen and slipped a shot through a crowd to tie the game with 20 seconds left.
That fueled the arena and let some air out of the Stars' tires all at once.
Dallas then came out in the third and left rookie Brady Tkachuk alone in front of the net for a redirection on what turned out to be the game-winning goal. In the span of less than two minutes on the clock, the game changed.
It was an interesting lesson in details. Dallas didn't take advantage of several great scoring chances early, failed to place full pressure on a young Senators lineup, and then watched as the kids gained confidence.
"We need to come out of the first period better than we did with the way we played," said center Jason Spezza, who assisted on a power-play goal from John Klingberg. "We didn't cash in on enough chances. Then they capitalized on their chances."
Montgomery said there is an art to understanding the nuances of the game, not getting too risky when you don't capitalize on your chances, understanding the score and time on the clock. Knowing when to play it safe.

"It's risk/reward," he said. "What are you risking and what are you going to get? There's a lot of risk in our game right now, especially the end of the second period, and the reward wasn't going to be there for what we were trying to do."
And that all is magnified on the road. That's why it's so tough to win away from home in the NHL. That's why you have to break even at minimum.
"It's really important," Montgomery said. "If you want to be a playoff team, you need to be at least .500 on the road. I didn't think we managed the game really well for being on the road. That's probably the biggest surprise for me, the lack of knowledge for how to manage games."
Of course, the team will get another chance Tuesday when they play the red-hot Devils in New Jersey. And while the game isn't critical, positive results early on are so much better than negative for this team.
"Everything doesn't carry over from year to year, but it is something that if you want to be a good team you have to have a good road record, so it is something that we know we have to be better than we were," said Spezza.
"But we're a different club, we're playing a different style, I don't foresee it having carryover from last year."
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika,and listen to his podcast.