Burnside: Five takeaways from Stars' 4-1 loss to Colorado

The Dallas Stars came off their bye week in disappointing fashion Saturday, dropping a 4-1 decision to the surging Colorado Avalanche.
Here are mutterings and meanderings on a game that wraps up a lengthy stay at home with the Stars headed east this week for four games.

1. Opportunity knocked, no one answered

As one might have expected from the first game after almost a week away from game action, this one was, as Dallas captain Jamie Benn noted, a "weird game".
It began with a sluggish first period -- although the Stars did enjoy a couple of quality chances, including a Benn breakaway that he couldn't capitalize on, thanks to a nice Jonathan Bernier save on his deke attempt.
The teams traded goals through two periods with the Avs opening up with a nice Alex Kerfoot effort, racing down the left side about 100 miles-per-hour and golfing a shot over Ben Bishop in the first period. Benn then tied it in the second after a John Klingberg shot from the slot.
But in the third, the Stars couldn't take advantage of back-to-back penalties by former Dallas defenseman Patrik Nemeth, and Nathan MacKinnon beat Bishop in the five-hole shortly after a missed Antoine Roussel chance in close.
Blake Comeau then got one past Bishop high on the glove side with 1:40 left in regulation to salt this one away, and the Avs added an empty-netter to close out the scoring.
Overall, the Stars won an astounding 40 of 59 faceoffs on the night, and even with all that puck control, couldn't find a way to emerge victorious.
"Game turned on the missed power-play opportunities in the third period," head coach Ken Hitchcock said. "We missed all those opportunities we had in the third, and especially, the first we had a lot of scoring opportunities. We created a lot of turnovers in the first and didn't get the lead, and then we had a lot of looks in the third period.
"When it's 1-1 that's what you want."
In the end, the Stars ended up 0-for-4 on the power play and managed just the one goal on 28 shots.
"Really came down to win a period win a game," said Benn, who has points in nine of his last 10 games. "Wasn't going too well for us pretty much all night. Came down to the third period and they found a way to get it done."

2. Temperature rising

If there was a word to describe the Stars on Saturday it might be 'meh'.
Not really bad. Not particularly inspiring. Just okay. Of course, the point is that just okayisn't going to get it done.
One of the storylines coming into Saturday's game was the fact that the Stars had remained in the top wild-card spot, even through the bye week. Well, Saturday's loss, coupled with Minnesota's win over Winnipeg, dumped Dallas to the second wild-card spot.
Chicago's a point back. Colorado has now won six in a row and are two points back with two games in hand.
"Our division is so good, it just seems that every night, the teams in our division don't lose," Kerfoot said. "If you're following the standings day in and day out, it can get a little frustrating. But we just want to play hockey and focus on what we can control, and that's winning hockey games. We've been doing a good job of that lately."
In short, just okay won't cut it.
"The temperature goes up," Hitchcock said of the second half of the season. "I thought we were okay tonight, but the temperature's going up and whoever raises their level is going to catch up to the temperature. You see what Minny's doing now and things like that. That's experience. They know what's at stake. I think we've got to catch up now. We've got to get our game up to another level and find that level for us.
"Today, we were okay. But if you're really focused and dialed in, you don't miss the chances we missed today. There was just too many easy scoring chances that we missed today."

3. Big line conundrum

Earlier in the season, Hitchcock disbanded the dynamic Benn-Tyler Seguin-Alexander Radulov trio in large part because he felt the other lines had become too dependent on the big line to do all the heavy lifting offensively.
That trio was excellent again on Saturday, accounting for 13 of the team's 28 shots on goal and producing the only goal of the night for the Stars.
Does that mean Hitchcock is thinking of tearing them apart again? Nope. In fact, he's taken the opposite stance -- at least for the time being -- putting it on the other forward groups to get the job done on their own.
"I think other people just have to give us more," Hitchcock said. "We're at that stage now if I have to bust up the line to spread out the wealth, that's shame on us, because for me, other guys going to have to step up. We're going to have to have some second-wave players step up here. We've given them the opportunity, and now, it's time for them to take advantage of it."
There were plenty of chances on this night for other groups to chip in.
Devin Shore made a nice move in the third, but couldn't get a backhand shot to go from the slot. Roussel had a partial breakaway in the final minute of the second period and then a terrific chance just before the pivotal MacKinnon goal in the third.
"I think every night, it's important for other lines to chip in, and you've got to find a way to get pucks to the net," said Tyler Pitlick. "We didn't have enough shots; we didn't have enough zone time."

4. About the goaltending

The last time Bernier faced Dallas, at home in early December, he was yanked after allowing four goals on nine shots. But he had also pitched a shutout against the Stars, also at home, earlier in the season, and he was very good on this night, as well, especially during the third-period penalty kill situations that changed the course of the game.
As for Bernier's counterpart, Bishop, he, too, made timely saves, including a terrific pad save on Tyson Jost late in the second period. But he did allow a half-fanned shot by MacKinnon to get through him for the winner and then was beaten by Comeau to effectively end the Stars' chances of coming back.
"I've got to find a way to make one of those saves in the third period to keep the team in it," Bishop said.
Fair enough.
Hitchcock declined to weigh in on Bishop's performance, focusing more on the fact that you don't win many games if you only score one goal.
Equally fair.
"I don't like commenting on the goalie stuff. you know," Hitchcock said. "If he feels he should have stopped it, he should have stopped it. But I just know you're not going to win a lot of games scoring one goal. Bottom line -- especially at home. You've got to score more than one goal.
"We had too many quality scoring opportunities. We had four breakaways. We had too many quality scoring opportunities, missed them, and it did come back to haunt us. It hasn't before, but it did this time. It's twice against this team -- against that goalie -- that it's come back to haunt us with all these quality chances, so it's disappointing."
That said, Hitchcock did say the second half of the season is about winning the special-teams battle and winning the goaltending battle.
Neither of those things happened for the Stars on Saturday.

5. Odds and ends

The Stars will skate at Dr Pepper StarCenter Frisco on Sunday at noon and then fly to Boston, where they'll play a matinee on Monday afternoon to mark Martin Luther King Day. Then, it's off to Detroit on Tuesday, Columbus on Thursday and another matinee, in Buffalo next Saturday, to round out what should be a challenging week against Eastern Conference opponents.
"The challenge is to bring our best on the road. We got to find a way to dig in and get some points in some tough buildings here and get to work (Sunday) and that starts with a big one in Boston," Benn said.
Worth noting that the last time the Stars traveled east, they went 2-1-1 and it was a catalyst to a successful homestand that lasted, well, until Saturday.
"That definitely should be your mindset anytime you lose a game, you want to come back the next one a little stronger. And find a way to win a hockey game," Benn added.
Hitchcock said he was looking forward to the challenge.
"I think it'll be good for us," he said. "Looking forward to it."
Saturday's game marked Pitlick's 100th in the NHL, and for a young man who's battled significant injuries along the course of his career, it's no small feat.
"It's an honor to play 100 games in the NHL and I wish it would have been a better effort by myself," Pitlick said. "It's been a battle for me, I think everyone knows I've had a string of hard injuries to go through and come back from, so it's a good feeling to get that mark.
"So, hopefully, I can stay healthy and be in a lot more games."
This story was not subject to approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club. You can follow Scott on Twitter at @OvertimeScottB, and listen to his Burnside Chats podcast here.