Dallas Stars game notes: Too passive, some bad luck, and a tough trip ends in loss at Mammoth

The Dallas Stars couldn’t find enough offense in a 2-1 loss against the Utah Mammoth at Delta Center on Thursday. Dallas wrapped up its six-game road trip with a 2-3-1 record and only five of a possible 12 points. Not great.

Stars lines

• Steel – Johnston – Rantanen
• Robertson – Hintz – Duchene
• Bäck – Hryckowian – Bourque
• Benn – Faksa – Erne

• Lindell – Lundkvist
• Harley – Petrovic
• Capobianco – Lyubushkin  

• Oettinger
• DeSmith

Scratches: Bastian, Blackwell, Heiskanen (personal family matter)

I like these lines. I don’t think Matt Duchene should be on the wing, honestly. But having him on the right wing is much better than the left because he loves to carry down the middle or right and curl back onto his forehand. And giving him two skilled players should help get him out of his shell a bit.

Also… Welcome back, QueBäck line. We have missed you.

Top story

Passing up chances.

The Dallas Stars have a disease. It’s called, “Don’t-want-to-shoot-the-puck-eosis.” For whatever reason, the Stars refuse to shoot the puck. They are constantly looking for the extra pass or trying to turn Grade A’s into Grade A+ chances. They passed up multiple scoring chances, instead firing a pass cross-ice that didn’t turn into a shot on goal.

I just don’t get it, to be honest. It feels like they are in a mindset of avoiding throwing pucks at net. In reality, when you are in a slump, the first thing you should do is simplify your game. Throw pucks on net, go to the hard areas, and look for garbage. Instead, they are always searching for the nifty, sexy play.

It can look like an extra pass, a dangle or two, a deke to the backhand, or saucer passes through the box. This team, when playing at its highest level, can execute those plays. But they are not working right now because they are nowhere near their highest level right now. Dallas is 31st with only 25.3 shots per game. 31st of 32 teams. And it’s no longer a small sample size or just a dumb stat that isn’t mattering on the ice. It matters, and now that their shooting percentage is dropping back from space to the median, it is starting to turn into losses.

I hope this changes going forward and we see a far more direct Stars team staring Sunday vs Tampa Bay.

Live game notebook

Period 1

• Duchene is all over it early.
• Stars forecheck is giving Utah a ton of problems behind its own net to start. Dallas has created a few great chances by turning pucks over around the Mammoth goal line.
• Jake Oettinger has made two huge saves on the first Mammoth power play. When he telescopes out like he did and makes a kick save, you know he is reading the play and seeing the puck well. Good sign for No. 29 and Dallas.
• Fun fact: The Stars are playing the Mammoth in Utah, whilst the Mavericks play the Jazz in Dallas.
• Dallas is going to have to be shoot happy tonight. They need to simplify their game overall, something they haven’t done much of during this two of ten stretch. So far, they have passed up a few opportunities to shoot, instead attempting passes East-West through the box. That’s not going to work. Get pucks on net.
• Stars still suck on four shots.
• Jason Robertson just leveled Nick DeSimone along the wall on a defensive pinch. Then, Robertson jumped up and tried to get behind Utah, but the pass was not direct enough to send him in.

Stars 0, Mammoth 0

Period 2

• Esa Lindell gets caught puck watching and gets beaten to the net. Oettinger with another good save, and Dallas gets a power play for too many Mammoth on the ice… Mammoths? Mammoteese? It’s Mammoths. I looked it up.
• Roope Hintz passed up a glorious scoring chance from the bumper on the power play. Instead of shooting, Hintz tried to make one more pass over to Mikko Rantanen on the far side. It did not turn into a shot on goal.
• Dylan Guenther tried a Michigan on the left of Oettinger, but Esa Lindell knocked the puck off his blade.
• Oettinger made another two good saves over to his left, then stopped JJ Peterka on a breakaway down the left wing.

• Robertson got stopped by Karel Vejmelka on a partial breakaway down the right wing. Looked like his shot was going wide.
• Oettinger made ANOTHER big set of two saves. Stars haven’t played horribly, but they have given up a bunch of quality shots.
• Duchene may not be great in his own end, but he has had a really good game forechecking tonight. Forces another turnover and turns it into a chance.
• Rantanen is great at locking on to a stick and not letting the skater holding it get away. He did it to Mikhail Sergachev for about 15 seconds.
• Stars were unable to get in on the forecheck, the puck hopped over Jamie Benn’s blade, and Alex Petrovic stopped his feet at the blue line and didn’t see Nick Schmaltz joining the rush. Schmaltz beat Petrovic to the net and got the tip on a shot pass by John Marino. That’s a tough goal to give up late second period in a scoreless game.

Mammoth 1, Stars 0

Period 3

• The goal will not count, but Lawson Crouse just made a nasty backhand deflection against the grain. His stick was a foot over his head, and he is 6-foot-4.
• Roope Hintz jumps up into a pass and draws a hooking penalty before chipping a backhand shot. Man, can he fly when he wants to?
• Utah turned the puck over with a chance to clear, Wyatt Johnston walked out from the goal line, and Rantanen collected the rebound to the right of the net. The Stars broke an 0-8 power play streak.

• The tie didn’t last long.
• A wrist shot by Marino hits Oettinger right in the mask and bounces straight up and over the goalie and into the net. That’s a brutal way to fall behind again. Sometimes, it just isn’t going your way.

• Esa Lindell nearly tied it with a wide-open shot down the slot. Good save by Vejmelka.
• Gunther graised the outside of the post on Oettinger’s blocker side coming down the right wing. The game has turned into a track meet. I don’t know if that’s good or bad for Dallas.
• Johnston took a hard hit, close to knee-on-knee — Looked like hip contact without sticking the leg out — and Sam Steel gets robbed by a quick glove from Vejmelka.
• Oettinger got tested again and again. Utah has control of this game. Dallas isn’t turning many rushes into chances or sustained pressure.
• Benn made a nice move to enter the zone, but tried to dangle another Mammoth defender and lost the puck. Those turnovers at the blue line are killers, especially when playing a very talented rush team like Utah.
• Hintz nearly tied the game with a perfect deflection down and almost five-hole on Rantanen’s one-timer from the point.
• For some reason, Dallas let Hintz take every Faceoff with the empty net, each from the same left dot. Hintz won only one of five, and it ws a 50/50 puck. Kevin Stenlund used the same move to win four of the five and keep Dallas from tying the game.

Final: Mammoth 2, Stars 1

One random note… I thought Thomas Harley looked more like himself tonight. He played 30:46 and all of the 6-on-5. They desperately need him to get back to his usual ways, especially offensively.