Stars have no answer for Blues in 'learning point' loss

DALLAS --Four months after a 1-7-1 start to their season, the Dallas Stars had a chance Friday to write another chapter in their remarkable turnaround by grabbing first place in both the Central Division and Western Conference.
The only thing standing in their way? An all-too-familiar foe in the St. Louis Blues, who entered two points ahead of Dallas following a 1-0 victory over Arizona the night before.

WATCH: [All highlights from Stars vs. Blues]
The defending Stanley Cup champs didn't budge.
Despite the Stars being the more rested group, it was the Blues that struck fast and never looked back, using a pair of first-period goals to cruise to a 5-1 victory in front of 18,532 at American Airlines Center.

"I would say I did a lousy job preparing them. They did a lousy job preparing themselves," interim coach Rick Bowness said of the Stars' defeat, which dropped them back to third in the Central at 35-20-6 on the season.
"I would say that that team we played knows how to win, the commitment it takes to win, how to play to win -- and we have a long way to go to figure it out."
Alexander Steen netted the opening goal for St. Louis (35-17-10) at the 5:48 mark of the opening frame, catching Stars goalie Ben Bishop out of position following a mad scramble in front of the Stars' net. David Perron made it 2-0 with 2:42 remaining, sweeping home a rebound for his first score in 10 games.
The second period didn't go any better for Dallas.
Robert Thomas turned a turnover by Stars defenseman Stephen Johns into a long feed to Jordan Kyrou, who caught Jamie Oleksiak in a change before wristing a shot past Bishop at 2:24. Jaden Schwartz chased Bishop from the game less than two minutes later, firing a pass from Ryan O'Reilly for the Blues' fourth goal.
"They came in here and played a solid team game," Stars captain Jamie Benn said. "Just simple. They kicked our butts in our own rink, so pretty embarrassing."
Anton Khudobin finished the remainder of the game in relief of Bishop. He stopped nine of 10 shots faced, yielding a goal to Colton Parayko in the third.

Oleksiak scored Dallas' lone goal to avoid the shutout -- his second in as many games -- with 3:33 left in the game.
The Stars, who saw their six-game point streak end, finished 0-for-4 on the power play.
"We are a lot better team than we showed tonight," Bowness said. "We know that. We had a bad night and it is the whole room. We aren't going to point our fingers at one or two guys. It's the whole room and the coaches."
Added Benn: "It's a good learning point that we've got work to do. There's a lot of areas of our game that we need to get better at."

Fast facts

They said it

"The best power play we had we put the penalty killers out. That was the best power play we had. Why? They went to work. Power plays aren't always about cute plays and X's and O's. It's about the commitment to work. Those guys that we played -- Dickie (Jason Dickinson) and Cogs (Andrew Cogliano) -- went out and they just worked hard and had some great looks. The power play has been really good for this team. The power play is usually a reflection of your 5-on-5 play, and our 5-on-5 play was bad and so was the power play."
-- Bowness on Dallas' struggles with the man advantage against St. Louis

"It was just a tough game top to bottom. We didn't execute. I felt like we were disjointed all over the ice. We were kind of spread out. You know when you play a team like St. Louis, they're very structured. They play a hard, physical game and it's not going to work. ... With that being said, we've played some pretty good hockey as of late. We get too much down on our ourselves. We just got to figure out what we did wrong and correct it."
-- Blake Comeau on Dallas' loss

Up next

The Stars close out their three-game homestand on Sunday against the Blackhawks at 2 p.m. (TV: FS-SW; Radio: KTCK 1310-AM, 96.7-FM). Dallas beat Chicago in a shootout at home on Nov. 23 and fell, 3-0, at United Center on Nov. 26.
Don't miss your chance to see the Stars battle the Blackhawks on Sunday at 2 p.m. at American Airlines Center. Stick around after the game for the Stars' annual Boxx Modular Alumni Game, featuring Marty Turco, Brenden Morrow and more. Get your tickets now!
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Jeff Odom is the manager of DallasStars.com and writes about the Stars/NHL. Follow him on Twitter @jeffodom.