No home remedy: Stars' power play fizzles in loss to Capitals

DALLAS --The Stars' power play seems to be missing one of its most important ingredients these days:
Power.
Radek Faksa scored his first goal of the season Saturday, but Dallas continued its season-long slumber on the man-advantage against the Capitals, failing to convert on six opportunities en route to a 4-1 loss at American Airlines Center.

WATCH: [All Stars vs. Capitals highlights]
The Stars, who dropped to 1-4-1 and secured just one point on the two-game homestand against Calgary and Washington, are now 1-for-20 on the power play through six games. On the flip side, the Capitals were 2-for-5 on their chances for the night.

"We weren't a threat," Stars coach Jim Montgomery said. "Didn't win faceoffs. Didn't win any battles. Didn't win any loose puck battles. The puck was never inside the dots, so if you never threaten inside the dots, you're not going to have success.
"It all starts with the compete. We just didn't compete hard enough."
Another slow start and early penalty trouble cost the Stars in the first period as Washington's Tom Wilson capitalized on Joel Hanley's double-minor for high-sticking, putting a shot past Anton Khudobin to give the Capitals a lead three minutes in.
Dallas asked for a review of the goal, arguing the Capitals had committed a hand pass to set up Wilson's shot. But the call was upheld and the Stars were issued a delay-of-game penalty as a result of losing the challenge.
"With six minutes of power play or penalty kill to start the game, no one's going to be feeling good," Stars center Tyler Seguin said. "And we've got to find a better way to get better starts right now."
It didn't get much better in the second. Dallas squandered four opportunities on the man-advantage in the period and wound up falling behind even further.

After the Stars committed an ill-timed turnover in their own zone, Washington's John Carlson easily converted a 4-on-1 opportunity in front of Khudobin to double the Caps' lead.
Evgeny Kuznetsov added a second power-play marker in the third. By the time Faksa put one past Washington netminder Ilya Samsonov on a slick wraparound to give the Stars a brief buzz, it was simply too little, too late.
Alexander Ovechkin sealed it on an empty-netter in the final minute.
"It's playoff mode for us," Faksa said. "We need to step up because other teams are winning and it's so hard to catch those teams later on. We have to have a really good road trip and at least three wins.
"It doesn't matter if we win two to one or one to nothing, we need to just win games. Play simple and I think we will be fine."

Three stars of the game

John Carlson, Capitals: Finished with a goal and an assist; led Washington in ice time at 24 minutes, 14 seconds.
Evgeny Kuznetsov, Capitals: Netted the third-period dagger and ended up with three shots on goal.
Ilya Samsonov, Capitals:The 22-year-old rookie sparkled in just his second start, stopping 24 shots.

Fast facts

He said it

"Everyone in here, including myself, needs to have a playoff mentality going on this road trip. If you're chasing high in this league, everyone knows that a St. Louis season doesn't happen every year. It just doesn't happen. … We're too good of a team to be playing as bad so far to start the year."
-- Seguin on the Stars' upcoming four-game road trip and 1-4-1 start to the season

Up next

The Stars head on the road for a four-game trip, which begins at Buffalo with a Monday matinee at 2 p.m. CT
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Jeff Odom covers the Stars for DallasStars.com. Follow him on Twitter @jeffodom.