Heika's Take: Lessons learned after loss to Lightning

As the Stars face some of the league's best teams this week, they are hoping to learn a few things about themselves.
On Saturday, the Tampa Bay Lightning gave a classroom presentation on handling a tight game. The perennial powerhouse was manhandled by the Stars at times, but then stepped up their execution in the third period and walked out with a 3-1 win.

The game was tied 1-1 for much of the contest, and the Stars had the better of the scoring chances early. Nonetheless, the Lightning grabbed a 15- advantage in shots on goal in the third period which led to the go-ahead goal in the final minute of the game. Victor Hedman then skated behind the net for a wrap-around attempt, and Anthony Cirelli tapped in his second goal of the game.
"I didn't like how we handled the last five minutes," Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. "They pushed in the third, and that's what a real good team like that does. Our execution the last five minutes was poor. It's a good learning lesson for our group against teams like that."

The Lightning move to 34-16-2 while the Stars fall to 30-14-10, so this was a battle of two of the best teams in the league. That said, the Lightning went to the Stanley Cup Final last season and has won 18 playoff series in the past eight seasons. They are now 12-5-0 when tied after two periods. Dallas falls to 6-7-6 when heading into the third period on even footing.
"I think so," veteran Luke Glendening said when asked if the team has to raise its bar against teams like Tampa Bay and Boston. "This time of year, we have to keep getting better and keep raising our level, and it's a good test for us. I thought we rose to the occasion pretty well today."

The Stars were dominant at times in the first two periods. They had a 52-32 edge in shot attempts after the opening 40 minutes and had twice the quality scoring chances as the Lightning. When the game was over, the two teams were almost even in both categories.
It was a tough ending for Scott Wedgewood, who stepped in and gave a solid goaltending performance in his first game since Jan. 19.
"We were right there to at least get a point," Glendening said. "Wedgewood was outstanding, and I thought for most of the game we played really well. It was a tough way to go."
DeBoer said he was thrilled with the work by Wedgewood in a difficult assignment.
"He was excellent," DeBoer said. "We can't play Jake every night, we can't wear Jake out, and Wedgie came in and did a hell of a job. We just needed to give him some run support."
The Stars have struggled with that issue at times this season as they have put two or fewer pucks past a goalie in four of the past five games. Both teams did battle to get their ice, and that's something the Stars will have to continue to work on as they play strong teams.
Wedgewood said he was pleased with his performance. He finished with 28 saves and saw a bit of a breakdown on the last goal, when the puck was sent in front and Cirelli battled to get positioning for the chip. Wedgewood said he has to deal with the role of backup goalie no matter how long the breaks are between each start.
"I thought I did a good job," Wedgewood said. "I was kind of stuck in a few situations where it was a longer period between games, but my head was on, and I thought I played a very strong game and I gave the guys a chance to win a hockey game. That's kind of my role, and I thought I did that very well."

The Stars as a team also did some things well, creating 30 scoring chances and drawing four power plays. However, they failed to cash in on one of the man advantages, and that was a sticking point at the end of the game.
"The power play…You let a good team like that hang around by not sticking pucks in the net, then things like that happen," DeBoer said.
Those are lessons that will have to be learned quickly as the Stars now face the league-leading Bruins on Tuesday.
"You learn things every time you play a team like that," DeBoer said. "That's a multiple Stanley Cup champion over there. That's one of the hottest teams in the league over the past two months, so I think there's multiple lessons out there tonight."
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.