5 things to know: Stars doomed by slow start in frustrating defeat

The Dallas Stars got off to a rough start on their homestand Saturday night, falling 3-1 to the St. Louis Blues at American Airlines Center.
The Stars found themselves down 1-0 just 34 seconds into the game and down 2-0 by the midway point of the first period, and they could never recover.
Erik Condra scored the lone goal, and Ben Bishop stopped 25 shots for the Stars, who lost their second straight game and fell to 23-19-4 on the season.
Here are five things from Saturdays' game.

1. Slow starting Stars

Slow starts have been a problem at times this season for the Stars and Saturday night was one of those times.
The Blues scored 34 seconds into the game on a wicked shot from the right circle off the stick of Vladimir Tarasenko, and the Stars were down 1-0. Nine minutes later, Oskar Sundqvist sets up Patrick Maroon on the rush and Maroon taps one in from the doorstep, and it was a 2-0 game.
"We've got to be way better than that to start the game," said Stars defenseman John Klingberg.
Then the Stars were chasing the game, and the Blues made it hard for the Stars to chase, not giving up much in the way of chances.
The Stars cut the lead to 3-1 on Condra's goal 8:35 into the third, but Tarasenko sealed the win with a power play goal a little more than four minutes later.
In the end, the poor start was too much to overcome for the Stars. And those lackluster starts are a problem the Stars need to get under control.
"It just comes down to individuals to get prepared for the game," said Klingberg. "When the puck is dropped you know it's game time, and you have to be ready."
How much can Klingberg and the other leaders on the team push players to be ready?
"For sure - it comes down to us, but we're all players in the NHL," Klingberg said. "We need to be ready when the puck is dropped. We can't be babysitters in here and trying to get our players going."

2. Montgomery frustrated, disappointed about Stars' effort

Stars coach Jim Montgomery was not a happy camper after Saturday's game. He was frustrated with his team's effort, especially coming on the heels of Thursday's 2-1 loss at Philadelphia where the Stars were lackluster to start and then fell behind 2-0 in the second period.
"Two games in a row where we don't compete at a level that is acceptable," Montgomery said. "It's everybody. Unfortunately, I am very frustrated that I have not been able to gain consistency in our performance and I haven't been able to change the culture of mediocrity."
And then there was this as he talked about some of the sloppy plays made by his team:
"I thought there was no rhyme or reason to some of the decisions we made out there tonight. Our game plan wasn't executed, and that's my fault for not getting the message through," Montgomery said.
"The last two games have been a real gut punch for me, personally, because I just don't think I am being able to get across how we are supposed to execute. The more important part is -- never mind the execution, the effort can overcome a lot of the mistakes -- but there is not the effort there right now to overcome mistakes."

3. Offensive woes continue

The goals have not been coming easy of late for the Stars, who have scored just five goals in their last four games. They've lost three of those games and scored one goal in each.
The Stars have scored two goals or fewer in 10 of their last 13 games, but they are 7-5-1. That says something about their ability to defend and their goaltending. But still, they could use more offense.
"Well, the league in general plays tight. We play a good defensive game. We play in games where there aren't a ton of Grade-A [chances], so you have to be patient," said Stars center Jason Spezza. "You have to score goals at the net like [Condra] did tonight. And then score on your power plays. I think, if you look, we don't give up a lot of goals, we aren't in the top in the scoring, so you have to be patient in games."
Overall, the Stars have scored two goals or fewer in 26 of their 46 games this season. The Stars are 28th in the league in goal scoring at 2.63 per game.

4. The good news? Nobody else around the Stars won

One positive for the Stars is that the teams chasing them in the standings didn't gain any ground, at least not the ones right behind them.
The Stars still sit in third place in the Central Division despite dropping two straight and three of their last four.
Colorado, which is in fourth place in the Central Division, lost to Montreal Saturday and remained two points behind the Stars. Fifth-place Minnesota lost to Detroit and was still three back of the Stars. And the Stars lost no ground to the ninth-place spot in the Western Conference. They still were still four points up on that spot there.

5. Condra nets first goal since 2016

The Stars fell to 14-6-2 at home and 4-6-1 against the Central Division. ... Condra's goal was his first in NHL since April 7, 2016 when he was with Tampa Bay. ... The Stars had 32 giveaways in the game, tied with Florida for the most in a game this season. ... The Blues outshot the Stars 28-22 and had a 46-39 advantage in shot attempts. ... Klingberg led the Stars with four shots on goal and six shot attempts. ... The Stars were 0-for-1 on the power play and 1-for-2 on the penalty kill. ... Dallas won 28 of 57 faceoffs (49 percent). Tyler Seguin won 8 of 15 (53 percent). ... Montgomery said forward Jason Dickinson, who has missed the last 10 games with a back injury, could return Thursday.
Here was the lineup the Stars used to start the game along with scratches and injuries.
Jamie Benn - Tyler Seguin - Alexander Radulov
Mattias Janmark - Jason Spezza - Erik Condra
Blake Comeau - Radek Faksa - Tyler Pitlick
Devin Shore - Roope Hintz - Valeri Nichushkin
Esa Lindell - John Klingberg
Miro Heiskanen - Roman Polak
Julius Honka - Taylor Fedun
Ben Bishop
Anton Khudobin
Scratched: Connor Carrick, Brett Ritchie
Injured: Jason Dickinson (back), Martin Hanzal (back), Marc Methot (knee), Stephen Johns (post-traumatic headaches)

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mark Stepneski has covered the Stars for DallasStars.com since 2012. Follow him on Twitter @StarsInsideEdge.